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PSYCHIC CONTROL. 



Psychic Control 
Through Self- Knowledge 



BY 
WALTER WINSTON KENILWORTH 



R. F. Fenno & Company 

18 East 17th Street, New York 






COPYRIGHT 1910 

BY 

R. F. FENNO & COMPANY 



Psychic Control 



@P,I A259466 



— 



PSYCHIC CONTROL. 



FOKEWOKD. 

This is the era of a new revelation. New religions, 
new systems of thought, new systems of philosophy 
are turning the tide of spiritual interest from the 
orthodoxy of past ages. The profound discoveries 
of modern science are forming into a basis for the 
authority of spiritual truth. 

Faith is giving way to knowledge. Faith often 
sinks into superstition. From being the forerunner 
of knowledge it is often debased into dangerous 
and soul-suicidal man-made dogmas. Faith should 
herald the dawn of Truth. When it fails to serve 
this purpose, it perishes. 

The scriptures of the world ask us to "see, hear, 
perceive and know the Truth" ; they say : "ask, and 
ye shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and 
it shall be opened unto you." It is the direct per- 
ception of Truth that the soul demands. Belief has 
not the motive power for conduct that knowledge 
possesses. 

The cry of orthodoxy has been, "believe, and ye 
shall be saved." The new theology says, "by knowl- 
edge man is saved, alone by knowledge." The surest 
method of realizing Truth is to understand ourselves. 
If a man possesses a soul, he must become conscious 
of it. Consciousness is most concerned with the body. 
To center consciousness upon the soul is the aim of 



religion. By "soul" is meant the changeless and 
permanent reality of which the changing and imper- 
manent personality is the fleeting shadow. 

In this volume the author has endeavored to pre- 
sent a clear and practical conception of the soul. It 
is understood that by "soul" he means neither mind 
nor body, but the living essence of which these are 
the mental and material manifestations. The unity 
of life presupposes the omnipresence of that unity 
and its everlastingness. That unity is the One 
Spiritual Self residing in all. The goal of spiritual 
effort is the realization of the Spirit within. Psychic 
or spiritual control is the direct way of reaching the 
goal. The great principle which has been emphasized 
is: that morality is the medium through which the 
deepest psychic and spiritual consciousness is ob- 
tained. Morality, together with a consciousness of 
what, in essence, is the Self of all beings, is the 
thread connecting the various subjects. 

The Author. 



STEPS TO SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 



CHAPTEE I. 

STEPS TO SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

In presenting a system of thought and a method 
for the development of spiritual faculties and con- 
sciousness the mandate of the Delphic Oracle : "Know 
Thyself" is of first consideration. A conception of 
what is meant by Self is of primary importance. The 
abiding principle, persistence and reality of Self, 
must be comprehended. What is that Self ? Is it the 
body ? Is it the mind ? Is it what is understood as 
soul ? Is it a synthesis of these ? 

The mind peers into the world of phenomena weav- 
ing the warp and woof of sense experience. Busied 
with the outward order of things, it fails to realize 
that it is the manifesting principle of phenomena, for 
it is through the mind alone that they exist. Thus 
the mind accustoms itself to accord reality to its ex- 
periences. Consciousness deals with symbols, whereas 
it should seek the meaning of the external in the study 
and realization of the internal. The mind is gener- 
ally absorbed in external phenomena, ever in quest 
of values associated with this external knowledge. It 
identifies itself with phantasmagoria, and in this 
identification submerges its own identity. 

Philosophical reasoning is the process through 
which the mind reacts upon itself. It leads to self- 



10 Steps to Self-Knowledge. 

introspection, to mysticism and to the comprehension 
of consciousness. Philosophy reaches to the primi- 
tiveness of thought in the attempt to answer the 
query, what is Self? History is more a veil than a 
light. It only faintly suggests the tremendous evolu- 
tion of ideas. It reviews several thousand centuries, 
but the Aryan race, mother of races, reached high 
flights of speculative thought before the building of 
the Pyramids, and long before the reign of those 
Egyptian and Assyrian kings whose painted mummy 
cases and sarcophagi intimate high culture and civili- 
zation ere the first ray of historic truth illumined the 
darkness of the past. Dissatisfied with the convic- 
tions of logic in the solution of the Eternal Question, 
the Aryan philosophers developed that psychological 
system of introspective thought which centers con- 
sciousness on the innermost nature of man, wresting 
from the Unknown the secret of Self, and bringing 
spiritual knowledge within range of conscious experi- 
ence. Conscious knowledge is true knowledge. Mys- 
ticism is deeper than philosophy. Theories are in- 
definite. Practical experience is the criterion of 
truth. Self-knowledge must be established in con- 
sciousness. It is vain to thread the labyrinth of argu- 
ment. Realization is the aim and end. The Yedas 
teach: "That Self must be seen, heard, perceived 
and known." The highest truth must become a living 
fact in conscious perception. 

Need for a satisfactory solution of the great prob- 
lem of life is vital. The problem is before each soul. 
Each has it to solve. That solution involves the en- 



Steps to Self -Knowledge. 11 

tirety of Self-knowledge, the development and per- 
fection of spiritual consciousness. 

There is an exhaustless reservoir back of mani- 
fested nature from which new forms and new creative 
and vital forces proceed ; a reservoir of latent energy 
in which all the future manifestation of the cosmos 
exists. Manifested nature is limited. Its vastness 
and seeming illimitableness is conditioned, compared 
with the infinite potentiality of the unmanifested. 
The unmanifested is infinite in possibilities of ex- 
pression; infinite in effort to reach higher culmina- 
tions of natural perfection. 

Man is a universe in himsel£^In the^abyss of the ) 

racial Past slumbers the enfixe cosmic past, vibrant 
with the possibilities of the cosmic future. The heart 
of Man throbs in perfect unison with the pulsations 
of nature in the great evolutionary urge. Within his 
racial subconsciousness is the vast stretch of instinct 
and feeling which conditioned expression from primi- 
tive forms to highly evolved existence. He is part 
and parcel of universal development. His nature is 
composed of the same soul, mental, physical and life 
forces animating all beneath or above the rational, 
all above or below the human. The past of the uni- 
verse is the past of every individual soul. The sum 
is no greater than any of its constituent units. Re- 
move a unifying factor and the sum is incomplete. 

We are the victims of Appearance. We are de- 
ceived by the magnitude of the sun. The material 
superiority of the sun over lesser bodies has source in 
the misconceptions of sense experience. We conceive 



12 Steps to Self -Knowledge. 

distance in the form of a break, when there is no 
break in the universe. The entire solar system is 
interrelated and bound to the earth in an infinite 
ocean of ether. The human body and the sun are only 
wave-forms of that ether, only points of condensation. 
Both are of the same material substance which com- 
poses all forms. The synthesized force which controls 
the movements of the planetary course is the same 
that controls the human body. The principle of life 
and consciousness manifest in Being is the same, the 
difference of expression one of degree. The principle 
which threads the evolutionary course throughout 
time and space is equally inscrutible, equally mar- 
velous — equally spiritual, whether the threading be 
of the inorganic, of primitive and instinctive, or of 
hyper-physical and spiritual life. In the fact that all 
substance, all force and all life is one, Man should see 
and grow conscious of his greatness in the universe. 
Once this fact is recognized as a living truth the 
oneness and sacredness of life and the Brotherhood of 
Man will be established. The Spirit of the Race 
will manifest in coherent collectiveness of effort, 
greater expression of social virtue and greater control 
over social inharmonies. Man is as necessary a fac- 
tor in the development of universal order as is the 
mightiest of the central suns. 

The all -encompassing motive in cosmic evolution is 
the complete integration of consciousness. Succeed- 
ing the first development of conscious life on any 
plane, the next and continuously next step of nature 
is to perfect it, to specialize and consolidate it and 



Steps to Self-Knowledge. 13 

ever broaden its field of expression. This is what the 
earth has been doing for millions of years, and the 
same process is going on in universal evolution. The 
purpose of this motion and growth of suns from vast 
spheres of fire into habitable planets is to formulate 
conditions to render possible the manifestation of 
consciousness. Consciousness being the goal of all 
physical motion, its most perfect, active and developed 
expression is the climax of cosmic perfection. 

Consciousness is infinite. It does not grow or 
evolve, nor is it brought about by any physical rela- 
tion. It is pre-existent. It could not develop from 
nature unless it existed anterior to nature. Life and 
consciousness cannot proceed from nature unless they 
potentially exist before nature manifests them. Mani- 
festation is the word. Western thought holds that 
evolutionary factors developed consciousness, that 
there was a time when consciousness did not exist. 
Evolution cannot be denied. The theory was advanced 
by the sage Kapila thousands of years before the 
Christian era. Nothing is to be said against the theory 
of evolution, but a central truth, as yet not well 
defined in western philosophy, is involution, which 
evolution necessarily presupposes. All these forms 
and forces, this life and consciousness, this universe 
of phenomena, did not come from the non-existent. 
There is a theory which relegates all to the iniatory 
movement of the cosmos, but this infers that the move- 
ment must have been eternally possible. Thus it is 
with consciousness. Manifested or unmanifested, 
consciousness always is. Existence is man's birth- 



14 Steps to Self-Knowledge. 

right. It is not a quality of the soul, but its essence. 
All that nature does is to condition forms and forces 
for the manifestation of consciousness. From incipi- 
ent to higher forms, consciousness is specialized. 
Future humanity is latent in the animal soul. The 
potential god resides in the human soul, and within 
the higher consciousness of the god is universal con- 
sciousness of infinite existence and realization of Self. 
This does away with the idea of creation or develop- 
ment from the non-existent, taking that word in its 
surface meaning. 

Infinite is consciousness, because pre-existent to 
any manifestation introduced by nature for the evolu- 
tion of life. Infinite, because it is eternally existent. 
It witnessed the dawn of this universe of time, space 
and causation. It will witness the cosmic disintegra- 
tion. Being eternally anterior to these conditions, it 
is eternally free from their limiting tendencies and 
bondage. That is the great truth, the saving idea and 
logical outgrowth. It is the saving idea, because it 
reveals to man the truth that consciousness is before 
and throughout all time : 

"Never the spirit was born, the spirit will cease to be 
never, 
Never was time it was not, end and beginning are 
dreams ; 
Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the 
spirit forever, 
Death has not touched it at all, dead though the 
house of it seems." 



Steps to Self -Knowledge. 15 

The consciousness of man is an expression of the 
infinite, supercosmical, ever-free, ever-absolute and 
unconditioned consciousness. The term expression 
must be philosophically understood. It means that 
finite expression is an emptiness, a shadowy unreality, 
an illusion. The infinite cannot be partialized, there- 
fore we are infinite; therefore free from bondage; 
therefore omniscient and omniexistent. Dare to take 
that position. Then neither fear nor weakness nor 
ignorance have dominion. 

These truths reveal the essential nature of man, 
They assert his power, his inherent divinity, omnis- 
cience and bliss. What then causes all this suffering, 
this self-belittleing which, to all appearance we are 
forced to undergo ? Why are we burdened with this 
terrible nightmare of limited consciousness if we are 
the absolute and all-inclusive existence ? W T hy this 
manifestation, far from divine, far from infinite, far 
from perfect. For ages upon ages man has been 
taught to consider himself a worm in the dust, and 
has done so. An extra-personal god has been thrust 
upon him before whom he must cringe. For ages 
upon ages men have been like whipped dogs, prostrate 
at the feet of tyrannous divinity. Some have had 
not only one autocratic god to fear, but an entire poly- 
theistic system. It was hard for man to shoulder 
spiritual responsibility conducive to moral and in- 
tellectual independence. There is no spiritual pro- 
gress without independence. There is no growth with- 
out freedom, and this is especially true in the evolu- 
tion of the soul. Fear must be eradicated before the 



16 Steps to Self -Knowledge. 

soul can truly advance. Political slavery is terrible, 
but it is not to be compared with religious slavery. 
Social caste is dreadful, but far more dreadful is 
religious caste. Absolute tyranny is dangerous, but 
more dangerous the unscrupulous and grasping spirit 
of priestcraft. Ancient governmental policies were 
superimposed upon the ignorance of the masses. It 
is the same to-day. Ignorance makes men grovel be- 
fore thrones of state and thrones of dogma. The ab- 
solute despotisms of the Orient furnish example. 
With knowledge comes power, self-confidence, asser- 
tion and realization of strength, and conquest over 
tyrannous conditions. 

Keligious reformation is the purging process which 
removes superstition and ignorance. It does away 
with soul-binding powers working inestimable havoc 
in the social body. The Buddhist reformation and 
that of Protestantism did not harm Brahmanic and 
Christian truths. It only converted the minds of men 
to moral and intellectual self-confidence. Ignorance 
and fear blind the vision, but men are to blame. They 
shut their eyes and cry out: "There is no light; 
there is no light." They attribute weakness and ig- 
norance to the soul, when it is the essence of light, 
truth, knowledge and power. Remove the veil which 
blinds the spiritual vision. Know that you are not 
bound, and you are not ; believe yourself in bondage 
and you are in bondage. 

The evolutionary course is infinite in circuitous 
windings ; the goal far in the cosmic distance. Evo- 
lution is the result of desire, and desire is but a dim 



Steps to Self -Knowledge. 17 

perception of the desired perfection, a vague, though 
real knowledge of the power to realize desire. The 
culmination is realized in the divine event when de- 
sire attains its highest ideal, Self-realization. Desire 
to be conditions the future. It strikes a deeper and 
truer chord in the harmonies of progress. High 
ideals render this exalted service to desire. 

All systems, having Self as their ideal, that at- 
tempt to realize Self-knowledge through enlarging the 
area of conscious perception apply the primary rule 
of establishing bodily health. Mind, however, is of 
more importance, because the mind exercises greater 
influence and power of control. The essential require- 
ment, therefore, is the perfect appreciation of mental 
values in their relation to spiritual development. All 
ideas interfering with perfect self-mastery must be 
discarded. Better a belief in annihilation than the 
bondage of superstition. Evolution depends on the 
summary of thought, and if this consists of vacillat- 
ing, indefinite and uncertain units, development is re- 
tarded. "All that we are is the result of what we 
nave thought. It is founded on our thoughts. It is 
made up of our thoughts," says the Buddha. 

The soul possesses as great a future as there is op- 
portunity to realize evolutionary desire, and evolution 
is relatively indefinite. Until the soul realizes Self 
as infinite consciousness there is further progress. 

rThe thought of infinite development is a spur to the 
Ever Onward. We are gods in embyro. We are di- 
vinity. Then why the apparently endless and futile 
struggle ? In the absolute this struggle is the lie the 



18 Steps to Self-Knowledge. 

soul constantly voices. It is abomination to speak of 
the soul as progressing, the soul beyond everything, 
with divinity as birthright. As long as we are in- 
volved in the dream of progress, however, evolution 
continues and there is reality in the phenomenal. 
This idea of becoming rivets bond after bond in the 
chain of ignorance. In the highest sense we are. 

Self is blasphemed in identification with finite con- 
ditions. Mental cobwebs should be brushed aside. 

i The soul should assert day and night that it is free, 
bound by nothing and slave to no condition. The 
Soul is omnipotent when it has realized that its inner- 
most essence is unconditioned. The Soul is the source 
of understanding and spiritual unfoldment, and is 
ever free. A Teacher explains this limitation of soul, 
and points the way out in a striking illustration: A 
lion stunned by the falling of a rock was found by 
hunters. Knowing that the lion could not regain 
consciousness for some time they built a bullrush cage 
around him to see if he would imagine himself 
captive. They then repaired to a safe distance. On 
awakening, the lion found himself surrounded by bars. 
He began to roar, thinking himself captive. The sug- 
gestion of the hunters had taken root. In his restless 
pacings the lion stumbled against the bars. They 
gave way instantly. With a bound, the lion gained 
freedom. The lion of the soul is caged in ignorance, 
constantly asserting misery, weakness and slavery to 
this and that condition. The riddance of this ig- 
norance enables it to express divinity. If sin exist 

/ it is only in the form of weakness. 



Steps to Self -Knowledge. 19 

Very true, this world is a stage and we are actors. 
We are acting our parts well or ill, but we are only 
acting. Just as a man representing an historic char- 
acter is not that character, so man portrays various 
parts and characters when Self is the only character. 

"What gives meaning to nature and lends it color 
and form is the light of the soul. The only power, 
the only beauty, only adorableness and reality are of 
the soul. Being possessions of the soul, the soul shin- 
ing everything else shines. These possessions are not 
to be found in nature. Confusion lies in the under- 
standing as to what is soul, mind and matter. Om- 
nipotence, the essence of Self, means that aside from 
it nothing exists. Aside from It there is no power. 
Omnipresence, the essence of the Self, means that It 
is the only presence in the universe. 

Highest moral relations are involved in the indi- 
vidualization of these truths. Their translation into 
values of character present the only logical reason for 
utilitarianism. Apart from the perception of the unity 
and sacredness of life there is little motive for the 
practice of ethical principles. Why should individual 
tastes, appetites and instincts be inhibited and control 
exercised over desire unless there is a spiritual 
motive? Consistent reason for morality develops 
when knowledge emerges from narrow into extensive 
conclusions regarding social relationship. When the 
attitude of men toward their fellows is governed by 
the highest understanding of Self, then will they love 
their neighbor as themselves. The Christ placed the 
wholeness of spiritual effort and realization in love. 



20 Steps to Self-Knowledge. 

Man's love for his neighbor comes with the recog- 
nition of the spiritual unity and identity permeating 
all life. Men love as they project their ideal. Ideals 
live in the realm of the soul. Manifestations of 
ideals are loved because the mind cannot worship 
ideals in themselves. The imagination depends on 
symbols. Until we learn to worship ideals as ideals 
we have to worship the outer manifestation. The 
human race has been doing this from immemorial 
time. Externalizing the ideal of Self it has created 
an extra-cosmic divinity and credited it with the at- 
tributes of Self. Everyone is projecting his highest 
ideal in varied idealization, and this is Self-worship. 
Ideals are consciously or unconsciously treasured 
for the sake of Self, dwelling in the largest and the 
smallest. This is true of every circumstance, object 
or personality which awakens love. The wife or hus- 
band is loved because both find the expression of their 
ideals in each other. It is the same with all loves. If 
they cease to interpret the ideal, they gradually pass 
from our lives and there remains nothing but the 
memory of the expression of the ideal. 

Self is enchanted with Self in all love. Love never 
really finds itself until the ideal is cherished for its 
own sake. We are charmed with scenic beauty or the 
rhapsodies of harmony. "We want nothing from the 
scene, nothing from the music, loving them for their 
own sake. We revel in the glory of the ideal. Our 
hearts soar and become one with it. The highest ideal 
is that of universal oneness. This ideal should be 
realized, not only in (he partial, but in the infinite 



Steps to Self -Knowledge. 21 

sense. Man's ideal can be projected upon the uni- 
verse as a whole. The supreme ideal is not local or 
temporal, it is universal and eternal. When man 
realizes that the principle of consciousness is beyond 
finiteness, he understands the truth that the "I" of 
every being is the same as his own, for there cannot 
be two infinite "IV. There is but One. All beauty, 
royalty and praiseworthiness are His. The causal 
principle of love is character. It is character that is 
/ loved for the sake of character. When a man is 
spoken of as good, the meaning is that goodness exists 
in him. Goodness is worshipped in the personaliza- \ 
tion. Goodness and other lovable qualities are ab- 
stract. They live in the ideal. They are superper- 
sonal and thus are inclusive of the personal. All 
finite ideals merge into the impersonal ideal of one- 
ness. He who has realized Self sees the omnipresent 
ideal pregnant with manifestation, even in the most 
abject, and worships it. He sees it in its advanced 
stages and prostrates himself before it. He sees it in 
highest manifestation, and its transcendant beauty 
and glory overwhelm him. This exalted state of the 
soul has led many of a mystical mind into practical 
effort and enthusiasm. 

Every idea is confirmed by an emotion. The end 
of evolution is refinement of sensibilities, and spirit- 
ual knowledge specializes highest emotionalism. 
When we know, we feel. Knowledge and feeling are 
conterminous and inseparable. Feeling is the heart's 
approbation of the findings of reason. Truth-pene- 
trating as statements may be, they never have the con- 



22 Steps to Self -Knowledge. 

vincing reality of emotions. Realization is not a 
climax of thought. It is the feeling of oneness and 
identity with the worm, with the ant, the flowers and 
trees, the mountains and seas and all universal beauty 
and revelation. Realization is the divine state of the 
soul when it is all in all and above all in all. Tra- 
herne, the mystic, saw the same life existing in him 
as in other beings. He saw his soul in the soul of 
every man and woman, and in the natural entirety. 
He saw Man as God. He exclaims; "All, all are 
Deities." Men who feel these thoughts are the true 
poets of life. 

In giving up this finite self we realize the One 
Infinite Self. The highest effort of man is in dis- 
pelling ignorance which, like a great pall, darkens 
spiritual perception. In getting away from ignorance 
and relating itself to conscious truth, the soul ap- 
proaches the otherwise unapproachable and unknow- 
able. This involves the great renunciation, when 
earthly values are lost sight of and everything which 
might be a drawback to Self-realization is discarded. 

Philosophical wrangling over the Eternal Question 
has little vital bearing. The Buddha benefitted man- 
kind because he taught an ethical system which does 
for the heart what concentration and introspective 
philosophy do for the mind. He inculcated a system 
in which truth has practical application. He silenced 
the insistent questionings of reason and taught his fol- 
lowers that truth is infused into the soul when the 
heart is pure and character blameless. Other teach- 
ers pursued the same course. The Christ said: 



Steps to Self-Knowledge. 23 

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God." Mere reasoning is circular. It has small part 
in the transformation of character. It does not erad- 
icate selfishness nor extinguish the fever of passion. 
The entire message of the Christ found expression in : 
"Love one another." He who throws himself into the 
w r ater to rescue his f ellowman is a know T er of Self. He 
who raises his hand in protection of the w T eak is a 
knower of Self. The poet or the teacher from whose 
lips flow words of wisdom and spiritual appeal is a 
knower of Self. Whosoever subordinates personal 
wishes for the welfare of others is a knower of Self. 

The true definition of Self-knowledge is distinct 
from intellectual knowledge. A man may never have 
acquired academic knowledge, yet, if he is a sage, he 
has immediate perception of truth. Introspection 
answ r ers the mental need. Transcendental love is not 
different from transcendental knowledge. Knowledge 
leads to love, and love leads to knoweldge. The great 
Know r ers of mankind are inner flames of love ; while 
the great Lovers of mankind are repositories of great- 
est wisdom. The Buddha w T as as great a lover of 
mankind as a knower, and the Christ as great a 
knower as a lover. He who initiates himself into uni- 
versal kindness and brotherly love is on the way to 
enlightenment. The man who in any way assists his 
fellow-man possesses that quality which, in time, leads 
him to the feet of Self. 

The end of all effort is calm ; the end of all strug- 
gle is peace. The warfare between the spiritual and 
the material ends in the victory of the former. Philo- 



24 Steps to Self-Knowledge. 

sophical and religious enthusiasts, whole-souled in 
aspiration for Self-realization, consider nothing too 
great or precious to sacrifice in the interest of realiza- 
tion, should necessity for sacrifice arise. They know 
that if a man gain the whole world and miss the Goal, 
his career is utterly useless. It is not in possessing, 
but in becoming, that life has value. Seclusion is one 
of the many methods adopted by those seeking spirit- 
ual development. They remove themselves from the 
disturbing influences of market traffic and market 
life, which are serious impediments in the way of 
peace. Retreat into mountain fastnesses, however, is 
not essential. Great kings have realized Self amid 
the burdens and duties of royal life, and the world's 
greatest teachers elevated the ideals of civilization in 
the midst of worldly activity. The mind can be led 
into the inner abode of silence, where peace reigns 
eternal. Real seclusion is of the mind. It is not 
physical remoteness from ordinary surroundings of 
life, but non-attachment to objects and circumstances 
which causes difficulties in the path of spiritual effort. 
It is in seclusion of the mind into inner retreats of 
the soul. Morality has value in this seclusion, for it 
builds impassible walls rendering the soul free from 
contaminating influences. As an instance, the prac- 
tice of kindness forms the habit of kindness, and in 
the strength of this habit unkindness does not exist. 

In spiritual development there are often moments 
of weakness, but they are to be expected. Human 
nature is liable to lapses, for the bonds of ignorance 
and selfishness are many. It is natural that now and 



Steps to Self-Knowledge. 25 

then there is a giving way. That is no reason, how- 
ever, why gloom should cloud the mind. Truth is 
one and, though her modes of manifestation be many, 
they all converge to the same center. Every system 
implies effort. The Vedas command : "Arise, awake, 
and stop not until the goal is reached." Great things 
are not to he achieved by the weak. Courage, fearless- 
ness, and cheerfulness are characteristic of those who 
know Self. Patience and perseverance will overcome 
everything. 

Selfishness is the cause of this wrong understand- 
ing of the real Self. The more this selfishness is ex- 
pressed, the greater is the bondage of the soul in this 
world of death and ignorance ; the farther removed it 
is from the illumination, bliss and omniscience of 
spirit. This is the logic of utilitarianism. This also 
is the answer which spiritual philosophy makes with 
regard to phenomenal reality. If this finite order 
is an illusion, the soul is free and divine, deathless 
and eternal. It is only the self -induced hypnotism 
of the soul which credits reality to the phenomenal 
and causes the round of birth and death and the mani- 
festation of manifoldness. This is the position taken 
by spiritual teachers. He who knows Self and has 
realized his inner nature, and before whose vision 
both the phenomenal reality and cosmic illusion have 
vanished, says: "Of this universe it cannot be said 
that it exists, neither that it does not exist." The 
free soul knows Self alone. For him philosophy has 
vanished, for philosophy implies relative knowledge, 
something as yet unknown, but he who has realized 



26 Steps to Self -Knowledge. 

Self has realized all. He is the essence of that tran- 
scendant knowledge of which it is said: "It is not 
this, it is not that." This knowledge is one with the 
nature and essence of consciousness. He who has 
passed into the omnipresence and omniscience of Self 
is spoken of in negative terms. Likewise must his 
conception of the universe be considered, for, the state 
of realization is incomprehensible. It has passed 
beyond both "yes" and "no." 

Seated on thrones of porphyry and clad w T ith the 
radiant splendor of suns, the high gods rule the 
destinies of the universe. These gods are highly 
evolved human sages who have not as yet attained the 
Goal, who must again be incarnated to continue the 
toilsome ascent on the Path winding from the un- 
knowable Past, and whose end is beyond the under- 
standing of super-Olympian thought. Yet are the 
thrones of these gods built on the sands of Imperma- 
nency, for all-devouring Time hastens the moment 
when the merit of their good deeds and super-human 
efforts determines their long-abiding bliss. The phi- 
losopher who wanders over the face of the earth in the 
mendicant's garb, who, attaining the highest knowl- 
edge, has revealed Self unto Self, has greater majesty 
than all the gods. Birth continues again and again 
until truth is known and realized ; but there is peace 
unto those who strive, and peace unto those who love. 



SELF AND THE COSMOS. 



CHAPTER II. 



SELF AND THE COSMOS. 



Out of silence came sound ; out of darkness, light, 
and from formlessness arose the beauty of form. Be- 
fore the temporal reigned the Eternal ; but the reality 
of the Eternal is clouded by the illusory qualities of 
nature, transposing, with the deceptivity of magic, 
ignorance into seeming intelligence, and darkness into 
seeming light. The entire universe was primarily 
obscured, its forms and forces slumbering in the 
Potential. Flowers and stars, mountains, forests and 
seas, suns and their light, and breathing creatures 
were not. The gods were not, nor the heavenly 
spheres, nor those of the underworld. Differentiation 
did not exist, for oneness and sameness prevailed 
throughout. The manifesting principle, from which 
everything proceeds, self-contained within its vast- 
ness, enwrapt the worlds in infinite brooding dark- 
ness, — darkness shrouded in darkness. Yet it was 
not activeless, but astir with life to be. The Infinite 
included the Infinite. Finiteness was not, nor its 
action, nor its law. No light shone forth, no voice, 
nor intelligence. A Nothingness existed, a vast reser- 
voir of Non-Being wherein all manifestation was in- 
cluded, a Non-Being wherein all was Life harboring 
the germ of a myriad-fold universe. 



30 Self and the Cosmos. 

From this condition nature arose by gradual pro- 
cesses, evolving the things we see and the things we 
know, and much that we neither see nor know ; bring- 
ing into expression all forms, and conditioning "lower 
selves" which view the phenomenal as the real, them- 
selves as possessed of form, limited intelligence and 
liable to birth and death. Out of the whole came the 
part, out of the great, the small. 

Man's relation to the cosmos, and his idea of cos- 
mic evolution, determines his conception of Self. If 
he believes Self existent through the movements of the 
cosmic mechanism, a condensation of atomic dust, or 
an expression of universal intelligence, he is wrong. 
If he believes Self and the universe existent through 
the personal will of an extra-cosmic divinity, he is 
wrong. The question, "what is the origin of the 
soul," is self-contradictory. Origin implies that time 
was when the soul did not exist, and that, through 
some unknowable pressure, it was conditioned into 
relative existence with a fiinite destiny. Origin, too, 
implies end. Something which has beginning and 
continues forever cannot be imagined. An infinitely 
straight line is a mathematical impossibility. The 
thought that the soul had a beginning has value in re- 
lation to morals. Paradoxical as it may seem, relig- 
ious systems have made men irreligious in teaching 
dogmas, such as original sin and eternal damnation, 
causing weakness and self-belittlement. 

There is no greater deity than Man. He is the only 
deity in the universe. Not the personal man, how- 
ever, but the Impersonal, which is the essence of the 



Self and the Cosmos. 31 

personal. In the innermost sanctuary of every life 
is this Impersonal principle, from which all personal- 
ity, distinction and separation have come. The Im- 
personal is the spirit of the unmanifested and the un- 
changeable. It is the Over-Soul, the World-Soul. 
The World-Soul is not different from the individual 
soul, nor is It greater. Neither the Soul nor Supreme 
have origin or destiny. Ancient, unborn and ever- 
lasting, they cannot be spoken of as finite, as begin- 
ning, or as subject to birth and death ; for that would 
imply imperfection and change. It is the body which 
is born and dies. It is the mind which fluctuates. 
Both mind and the body are changeable, imperfect, 
conditioned and finite. 

All reasoning is limited. A particle of intelligence 
implies infinite intelligence, just as a point or form 
contrasts with unlimited space. This is the basic 
recognition of the infinite, both in a mental and 
physical sense. Vision is conditioned by the infinitely 
non-seeable. Assist sight with the most perfect me- 
chanical instruments and the vision is still limited, 
for there is ever the non-seeable. This also applies 
to the conception of life. Manifestations of life we 
call souls ; infinite life we call God. But the Infinite 
and the finite cannot co-exist. Intimity alone is, and 
man's existence must be identified therewith. There 
cannot be as many infinities as there are individual 
creatures. There is but One All-inclusive Infinity. 
That is the Self, and the Vedas say: "Thou ar£" 
That." 

This is the synthetic conclusion of philosophy. Be- 



32 Self and the Cosmos. 

yond it reason cannot go. All other systems are lim- 
ited and limited ideas lead to limited moral and emo- 
tional results. Highest truth leads to highest moral 
and spiritual education. The monistic conception of 
the origin of the soul must be entertained. It is the 
one rational and irrefutable argument supporting 
spiritual philosophy. If the mind is imperfectly 
educated, expression of character and emotion is im- 
perfect ; if our thoughts are elevated, our lives will be 
likewise. Menta-psychical cults are not far from the 
truth. The mind is the determining factor in sense 
perception, mental vision, discrimination and, in a 
relative sense, in spiritual conditions, aspirations and 
progress. If truth is to be perceived and practically 
related, a revaluation of much, accepted as truth con- 
cerning the origin of the soul, is necessary. The 
Mosaic record is too primitive to carry conviction in 
this age of biological and psychological discovery. 

Vivified by the glory of Its existence and light the 
Infinite is cognizant of the Infinite, and this is crea- 
tion. The Infinite, is perceiving the Infinite, and this 
is creation. Filled with life eternal, the Infinite is 
manifesting Its infinity, and this is creation. In the 
beginning It was One without a second. It is no less 
so now. Yet in Its inscrutibleness the Infinite, con- 
taining all manifoldness, covers Itself with this qual- 
ity, and this is creation. The Infinite is the Eternal 
Subject. It knows Self as Self, and this is creation. 
In Its manifoldness we call It the finite. Never was 
it, nor can it be the finite. A distinction of finiteness 
arises through witnessing the One as the witnesser 



Self and the Cosmos. 33 

and Self as the witnessed. But it is all a vast dream. 
The Infinite is asleep, forgetful of divinity, omnip- 
otence, transcendency and infinite qualities. Nature 
is only manifestation caused by the Self-reflection of 
the Infinite. The Infinite peered into the crystal 
depths of Its essence and in this crystal depth It saw 
Self. The Infinite, being all life, imparted life to 
Its Image, and in this was the origin of Man and 
life. All is the image of the Infinite, mirrored in 
depth of Its own perfection. The image asks : "Who 
am I ?" and in this cry was voiced the destiny of the 
First Born, the principle of creation, the evolution 
and the dissolution of form and force. The Infinite 
calls the image the lower self, and exclaims, "Mine 
image ! Mine image ! Thou are I and I am Thou !" 
This is the perpetual relation of the Infinite to Its 
image, and the image, unmindful of this relation, 
wanders through cycles of existence, all unconscious 
of its origin. To appreciate the relation is realiza- 
tion ; it is Nirvana. 

Infinite in beauty, radiance and glory is the Self- 
vision of the Infinite. In its cyclings the image comes 
into relation with these shining qualities. It adores 
and offers sacrifices to them, and in this worship the 
image expands, embracing more and more of the es- 
sence of the Reflector. In this way the image is re- 
united to the Infinite, even as lover and beloved are 
one. Radiant is life by reason of the Infinite One, 
radiant in possibilities, radiant in unfoldment. Glad 
is the image of its origin. It peers into the radiance 
and glory of the Infinite, even as the Infinite Nar- 



34 Self and the Cosmos. 

cissus peers into the adorable qualities of Its Inflec- 
tion. The Infinite, pleased with Its image, bestows 
providential love and tenderness upon it. The ideal- 
ist is ever aiming at union with the ideal. The In- 
finite ever reaches to clasp Its Reflection to Its uni- 
versal heart. What words can describe that state 
when the image is conscious of the identity of Self 
and the Infinite. The image realizes that it never 
knew fear, nor change, nor sorrow, nor the limitations 
of the finite. The imaofe realizes that it was always 
the Infinite, and that through the Infinite was life, 
expression and all and all. 

This is realization ; this is Nirvana. 
f Stand up and declare your divinity. Declare that 
you are the image of the Eternal Spirit. Through 
this assertion comes realization of the Ideal ; through 
this realization comes psychic control. When Self 
is realized, all power and knowledge is not a part of 
the soul, but its whole nature. 

Psychic control and Self-knowledge do not belong 
in the realm of commercial values. Money has noth- 
ing to do with the acquirement of spiritual truths; 
and the true Teacher does not make traffic of his 
knowledge. His teachings are not for sale, but for 
realization and application. Could Self-knowledge 
and psychic control be purchased with money, it 
would be a very easy and for many a very comfort- 
able manner of obtaining priceless possessions. The 
truth is, it requires much vital effort and the upbuild- 
ing of high moral and mental standards. It is not 
work for the weak ; it tasks the strength of the strong, 



Self and the Cosmos. 35 

but in the effort man becomes a god. Desire to realize 
is the supreme necessity. When desire is vital, nothing 
can come between the object and the soul which de- 
sires. The desire overcomes all obstruction, and the 
end is one. Without fixed desire spiritual knowledge 
cannot be attained. The initial effort must come 
from the individual soul. No other can light the way. 
When desire for truth becomes a haunting idea, un- 
intermittingly persisting in consciousness, it is sincere 
and fruit-bearing. The drowning man wants to be 
saved. That is true desire. The hungry and thirsty 
are truly desirous of food and drink, and, somehow, 
manage to get it. In relative matters the seeker is 
only satisfied in accomplishing his purpose. Let him 
spiritualize desire and exalt it into higher modes of 
expression, and peace and exaltation will crown his 
efforts. The joy of succeeding in relative quest is 
transient compared with the joy of success in spiritual 
quest. As the hungry find food and the thirsty drink, 
so the spiritual seeker finds the Teaching and is led 
into the presence of the Teacher. Where there is a 
want there is a condition to satisfy that want. This 
is true of physical and mental desires; it is particu- 
larly true of desires connected with the development 
of the soul. 

It is often said that this view of life, of Self and 
the cosmos, is impractical, bears no relation to the 
ordinary course of life, and in no way assists the man 
of the world. This is the accusation brought against 
every system of thought final in its conclusions, but 
there is no half-way philosophy. Truth does not con- 



36 Self and the Cosmos. 

form to any condition of life not in relation to truth, 
and cannot be lowered to make its teachings comfort- 
able. If there is one direct way for men to travel, it 
is the only road to take. If there is only one choice 
to make, men must abide by that choice. The sugges- 
tion, that the impractical renders man unfit for social 
obligations and the condition in which he finds him- 
self, is untrue. Such accusation demands imperative 
answer. Does an ideal philosophy render its adher- 
ents impractical ? At present there are numerous sects 
whose creed is manifestly impractical. Their ideals 
are at variance with e very-day experience, yet they 
are successful, some of them succeeding enormously. 
This is because man is always looking forward to the 
ideal. He cannot live without ideals, and that is why 
he desperately clings to systems of thought and creed 
which express the idealistic. He distrusts agnosti- 
cism, and attempts to render the ideal in practical 
terms, and succeeds in so doing. Many a prosperous 
man owes his wealth through practice of principles 
of New Thought. In this manner he has aroused 
that stored-up energy behind the human soul, that 
magazine of omnipotence back of all nature, and 
brought it to bear upon the practical issues of life. 
He has, perhaps, unconsciously done so, but the value 
is equal. The knowledge that he can rely upon in- 
finite strength as a never-failing source of inspira- 
tion is of practical benefit to the believer. Concen- 
tration, and the power which it arouses, has value 
in nil concerns of life. In the criticism of idealistic 
philosophy, the objection may again be met by asking, 



Self and the Cosmos. ?u 

"What is practical ? What is meant ?" Practicality, 
in its commonly accepted meaning, is associated with 
self-interest, the pursuit of happiness and self- 
advancement. Therein lies the value of being prac- 
tical in the worldly point of view, but when the soul 
has realized its existence, what higher practicality 
can there be than pursuit of its welfare ? If you are 
practical, the sage assures you that he also is practical. 
You find practicality where he cannot find it. You 
place emphasis on what he mercilessly discards. He 
finds value where you see vanity of effort. You set 
importance where he underestimates. The highest 
practicality attends to Self, and the highest interest 
of Self are spiritual. 

Sincere desire and its practical attitude are often 
confused. Spasmodic desire manifests in a haphaz- 
ard and short-lived manner. In illustration, when 
one is bereft of material advantages, or when the 
hand of death touches his life, he considers the things 
of earth unimportant, and turns his attention to relig- 
ion in the hope of finding consolation. For a time 
he holds fast to the spiritual ; then temporal joys and 
cares again absorb the mind and the material atti- 
tude prevails. This is not spiritual aspiration. 
"Conversion" is another mistaken aspiration. True, 
conversion may occur. The soul, overcome by a ray of 
light from the divine Self, may be spontaneously 
illumined. The ray pierces the darkness of ignor- 
ance and sense bondage, and the soul ascends to higher 
planes where the spirit is freer and its progress quick- 
ens. But such instances are rare. The average con- 



38 Self and the Cosmos. 

version is psychological rather than religious. Sym- 
bolism, oratory, music and impressive ceremony influ- 
ence the mind until it reaches a susceptible point and 
falls in with the idea of conversion. Powerful ora- 
tory and transmitted vibratory influences have hyp- 
notic value, many times leading the convert to pros- 
trate himself at the feet of the minister, to declare 
that he is a "miserable sinner." Neither is this true 
conversion. It is psychopathic. It may have relative 
influence in exalting the mind for a time, but this 
state does not last. From within, alone from within, 
comes true conversion. It has no relation to exter- 
nals. It is the conversion of the lower self into 
higher expression and nobler ambition. It is a con- 
version of values, a transposition of ethical princi- 
ples, a conversion of the essential man, not of the 
outward shadow. True conversion distracts the mind 
from the momentary and ephemeral. It is the reali- 
zation of what is true and real ; it is the perception 
of the soul as the soul. 

Instead of making love the factor in conversion, the 
average revivalist makes fear the compelling force; 
instead of showing the ignorant the way of Self, revi- 
valism frequently casts them into deeper abysses of 
superstition. Instead of the soul being called by its 
true name, the name implying the free, the holy and 
the divine, it is cursed with the epithet of "sinner." 
Instead of being the conversion it is the perversion 
of the soul. 

The inner perception is truth-illuminating. The 
sense and the object come out of a single order. The 



Self and the Cosmos. 39 

soul and the cosmos come out of the same order. 
Being and Non-Being are the same principle dually 
considered. Life and death are but different names 
for the same reality ; it is the soul which is the expe- 
riencer of life and death. Cause and effect are one ; 
Self and the cosmos are one. The cause is one; the 
effect may be manifold, but as the cause is the effect 
manifested, there is no essential distinction between 
the two. The cause has only clothed itself in form. 
The principle of universal life that evolved the cos- 
mos does not exist as separate from the cosmos. It is 
the cosmos. Life and intelligence are but the condi- 
tions of a higher order of existence in which they are 
included. This unknowable existence in evolving the 
universe materializes its nature, law and essence. It 
alone is the existent. It is the cause of this universe ; 
likewise, the differentiated effect. In expression, it 
appears as many; in the dissolution and the absorp- 
tion of the effect, it returns to its causal state, the syn- 
thetic unity of the undifferentiated. 

Self is the cause of the universe, and Self is the 
effect. Self is the cosmos ; Self is the reality beyond 
the cosmos. 

When reason is spiritualized, it possesses discrim- 
inating wisdom. It perceives that, in the phenom- 
enal, all is motion and change. Wearied of complexi- 
ties that only darken the mental vision, the soul relies 
upon spiritual elements to assist it in reaching purer 
regions of conscious discernment. This is the higher 
mental unfoldment; through it comes right under- 
standing of Self. 



40 Self and the Cosmos. 

Science recognizes two underlying strata of all 
forms and forces. The first of these is universal sub- 
stance, the other universal force. All phenomena 
are reducible to these. It was a long and toilsome 
way ere this truth was discerned. Belief in the solid- 
ity of objects had to be eradicated. The reality of 
color, form, and innumerable objective qualities had 
to be viewed in different light. Their reality is now 
recognized to be purely mental. We are only con- 
scious of sensations, such as color, form, heat, cold, 
solidity, fluidity, and so forth. All that is known of 
the outer world is what is transmitted to the mind 
through external impression. Sensation is the only 
criterion of sense reality. "Matter is the permanent 
possibility of sensation," says John Stuart Mill. That 
is, matter is a condition of sensation existing through 
mental response to external impression. In this light, 
heat is a mental state. An impression passes along 
different nerve conduits of the body, reaches the brain 
and is there transmitted as the sensation of heat. It 
is the same with all sensations. They exist only as 
qualities of mind. Instead of realizing that nature is 
the product of sensation, conditioned by mental proc- 
esses, men transpose sensations upon external impres- 
sions and accord reality to phenomena, when it exists 
solely in the relations of the mind. 

As long as we call this world of change and mani- 
foldness of itself real, so long will we be subject to its 
laws. The recognition of reality solely in the exter- 
nal is the attitude taken by the lower self, which see3 
the effect alone and cannot distingiush the cause be- 



( 



Self and the Cosmos. 41 

yond the effect. It sees reality only in the dispen- 
sation of the temporal and seemingly concrete. Be- 
fore it can make any real progress it mnst discard 
this superstition. The highest knowledge is the great- 
est power. Learn to realize the external in the inter- 
nal, for there alone it has existence. Man is suscep- 
tible to error. About him he sees visible realities, 
tangible and concrete. The mind has habituated itself 
to view its relations with phenomena as the only and 
final evidence. Even the greatest thinkers, who 
know that the body is only an apparition, that it 
comes and goes, are influenced by it. The mind, 
after having lent meaning, color, form and light to 
outer impressions, after having clothed them with 
seeming reality by imparting its light upon their 
dark nature, forgets the task it has performed and 
falls before its mind-made idols. It worships and 
serves what should worship and serve it. The cre- 
ated rises above the creator. 

The soul cannot govern conditions until it realizes 
that it is above conditions, until it knows that nothing 
can bind it, that nothing can limit its activity, nor hin- 
der the greater expression of its divine nature. Prac- 
tical application manifests in daily assertion that the 
reality behind the soul and the reality behind nature 
is identical, not something different, as the senses 
imply. Unassisted sense experience is deceptive ; but, 
when educated in the knowledge of scientific laws, it 
assists mental discrimination. The soul should real- 
ize that each object of the senses is an image of the 
mind. It should meditate on that inner subjective 



42 Self and the Cosmos. 

reality, in which both the perceiver and the perceived 
lose their separate reality and merge into all-permeat- 
ing and unqualified existence. There is a condition 
in which all substance and force find synthetic unity, 
and manifoldness disappears. The state is the static 
state, when nature is at a standstill. Nature rises in 
cycles, completes and draws them to a close. The 
time is when there is no manifestation ; time is when 
manifestation is ; again manifestation is not. Poten- 
tial existence is as real as manifested existence. Every 
thing is subject to change. The philosopher finds 
that his mind is a reflection of this outward order, 
where all is passing. He also discovers that the mind 
is the source and sustaining principle of all this 
activity. 

In sense perception the thing perceived and the 
perceiver are separate and distinct. The one is the 
knower, the other the known. One is life, the other 
is that upon which life is acting. The knower takes 
hold, so to speak, of an outer impression, covering it 
with its own essence, and identifying itself with the 
mind-covered impression. When a person is angry 
he identifies himself with the state called anger. 
Anger and he w T ere at first different. Then a wave- 
form, conditioned by outer impress, crossed the mind. 
Through the reaction of the mind upon the impres- 
sion, anger arose. Something is brought to the atten- 
tion of consciousness ; consciousness considers it, and 
then passes judgment in the form of reaction. A 
stone thrown into the water disturbs it. The mind is 
like a clear lake. Outer impressions are like stones 



Self and the Cosmos. 43 

which are being thrown into it. Wave-ripples follow. 
The ripples subside, but come again whenever the 
surface of the mind is disturbed. The mind is the 
receptacle into which sense impressions unceasingly 
flow. Whenever an impression is brought to the 
mind it pauses to understand the new condition. 
When it is acquainted with the nature of the impres- 
sion it reacts, either in the form of a mental attitude, 
or physical motion. This is continuously repeated 
and, finally, this process becomes automatic. Each 
separate activity of life was developed in this man- 
ner, but through repetition the triple process of re- 
ceiving, contemplating and reacting upon an impres- 
sion has become indistinguishable. They are never 
conterminous, however; they follow in consecutive 
progress. It is similar to the disturbance of water 
caused by throwing stones. First, is the disturbance 
of the water. Then, lapsing seconds occur during 
which the water seeks equilibrium. The result is 
wave-ripples. The water, so to speak, has received 
an impression, meditated upon it, and flashed the re- 
action across its surface. This metaphor illustrates 
the condition of the mind in relation to nature. In 
the beginning the mind was a clear crystal. Then 
arose innumerable impressions which registered 
themselves on its surface. The mind reacted. These 
reactions subsided, forming the basis of memory and 
the formation of character. No motion is lost. 
These reactions become fine, potential, and always 
have present value in influencing expression in ratio 
to their past number and force. Within the depths 



44 Self and the Cosmos. 

of the mind are the reactions of innumerable lives. 
Science calls this heredity ; spiritual philosophy says 
this embodies the principle of reincarnation. Reflex 
and automatic movements of the body, over which 
consciousness has lost control, were once in the con- 
scious spectrum, in lives long past, when conscious- 
ness manifested in other lives. 

These thoughts show the connection between the 
external and the internal; between the soul and na- 
ture. In reality unconditioned, the soul has woven 
the veil of ignorance through constant identification 
with phenomena. The soul alone is real, but its ex- 
istence is that of Self. It is the light of Self which 
illumines nature. 

It is Thou, O Self, shining in the land. Thou 
shinest in the stars. Thou art present in the light- 
ning, Thou in the flame. " Through Thy control the 
sky expands, through Thy control the air breathes, 
through Thy control the sun shines, all lives are." 
All this manifestation is worship to Thee; evolution 
and dissolution but human terms for the absorp- 
tion of Thyself within Thyself, and for the manifes- 
tation of Thyself in Thine image. This apparent 
manifoldness of life and form is the myriad-fold 
vision of Thyself in the mirror of nature. Reach 
Thine image through and through its limited con- 
sciousness, and in Thy all-consciousness absorb it. 

The dream of the practical and of sense and 
separate existence vanishes when the shrine of the 
heart is opened to spiritual perception. There the 
Self is enthroned in garments of universal light and 



Self and the Cosmos. 45 

life. In illumination the soul sits at the shore of 
infinite bliss content with the murmurs of its music. 
The dream is the dreamer, and the dreamer the 
dream. All is a vast illusion. Self alone is the life 
of dream and dreamer. The waves are only on the 
surface. The sigh of the restless sea of Being, and 
the sweeping of its endless tides are only on the sur- 
face. The value in the effort of realization is the 
consciousness that each struggle is a nearer approach 
to the totality of existence embodied in Self. It is 
not in announcing the little that the great is achieved, 
but in emphasizing the great and discarding the 
little. The whole universe throbs for man, not alone 
in the picturesqueness of symbology, but in the all- 
reality of fact. 

Philosophy begins with search after truth ; it ends 
in absolute union with truth. The inquirer, per- 
turbed in the beginning, reaches the heights where 
desire is spiritualized and philosophical conclusions 
become conscious facts. The sage, one with Self, sees 
no difference ; he is the declarer of infinite unity. 
Instead of the cycle of rebirth, he witnesses only one 
absorbing principle of life, the source and the outlet 
of Being. 

The motion of the universe is a series of infinite 
rhythms. Confusion arises in man thinking of 
nature as self-illumined, when its qualities, apart 
from the vivifying principle of Spirit, are dark and 
insensate. Spirit alone possesses knowledge; there 
are no knowing qualities in nature. Spirit alone is 
the creator and preserver ; nature is chaos. The vari- 



46 Self and the Cosmos. 

ableness and manifoldness of the external is the sym- 
bolism, the expression of the soul. 

To learn the meaning of its evolution is the edu- 
cation of the soul. The soul is conditioned in mani- 
festation, but, awakened to spiritual perception, it is 
assisted by nature in its effort at freedom and the 
realization of knowledge. The soul, enshrouded in 
limitation, forgets its omniscience and omnipotence, 
its birthright of divinity. Through the dual process 
of life and death, pleasure and pain, nature is teach- 
ing the soul that its yearning cannot be satisfied by 
the temporal and ephemeral. Nature is a judicious 
mother. When there is need for chastisement she ad- 
ministers it, inflicting pain upon the soul enslaved to 
sense-pleasures. This continues through lives and 
lives. Little by little the veil of ignorance is re- 
moved, and little by little the great light and glory 
of Self manifest. In the end the soul realizes that it 
is existence, knowledge and bliss absolute. Experi- 
ence is the greatest teacher. "We are children, and 
experience the mother who gently takes us through 
this dark universe. If we stumble on the path she 
admonishes us to pay closer attention, for the path 
is narrow. 

"Long is the way, but the end is sure." 



KELATIVE TKUTHS. 



CHAPTER III. 



RELATIVE TRUTHS. 



The Infinite thought: "I AM," and the physical 
moved in the night of primeval darkness. The Infi- 
nite thought: a Let there be Light/' and light flooded 
the cosmos. When light was, the magic wand of re- 
newed life touched the souls who breathed and moved 
in the spheres of the Past. Time dawned. The 
morning stars sang, and the souls of the morning 
stars are the archangels of the universe. 

The golden sun is the principle of physical expres- 
sion, the aeon-revolving orb whose light permeates all 
manifestation, whose life is boundless energy. 

There is another Sun, however, inimitably more 
glorious, the source, not only of the radiance of the 
Star guiding our solar system, but of the splendor of 
all the stars. Orion and Arcturus are its servants; 
Aldebardn and Sirius, dispensers of its magnitudin- 
ous force, inheritors of its infinite life. 

This is the Spiritual Sun from which originated the 
pristine meaning of form and the pristine symbol of 
life. The ancient Aryan, regarding the physical sun 
as its image, saluted Surya, the Sun God, each yellow 
morn with the solemn invocation: "We meditate on 
the glory of that Divine Being who has produced this 
universe; may He enlighten our minds." The phy- 



50 Eelative Truths. 

sical is symbolic of the soul of the physical. The sun 
is the symbol of the spiritual essence of self-illumin- 
ating and all-present Light. 

All breathing beings and moving bodies rank in the 
cyclings of spheres, and this cycling is more enduring 
than time and more inclusive than space. The 
cosmos is a sum-total in which rhythm and harmony 
develop from the seemingly discordant and contra- 
vibrant. Science teaches that manifested nature, 
suns, moons and stars spring from homogeneous mat- 
ter, developing form, size and orbit, and disintegrat- 
ing into the primal undifferentiated state, when uni- 
versal dissolution sounds the death-knell of the cos- 
mos. The source of differentiation is spiritual and 
intelligent. Minutest and largest combinations of 
matter are outer manifestations of souls. Undifferen- 
tiated matter is one in essence with undifferentiated 
intelligence. From the latter all finite minds de- 
velop, thus establishing the identity of origin and 
essence of mind in all creatures. Infinite Mind, 
soul of all intelligence, cognizes no distinctions; 
neither does it think. Some philosophies doubt 
this on the grounds that, where there is no manifesta- 
tion of thought, there can be no intelligence. 

Men are anthropomorphic even in so-called unbi- 
ased reasoning. They would measure Infinite Mind 
by the psychometric standards of the brain. Self 
does not think, for nothing exists concerning which it 
should think. There is nothing unknown to Self. It 
does not think, for It manifests as thought. It does 
not think, for Its essence is eternal knowledge. The 



Eelative Truths. 51 

stone neither thinks nor reasons; neither does Infi- 
nite Mind. There is a profound difference, however, 
between the inability of a stone to think and the 
thoughtlessness of the Omniscient One. Thinking is 
a mode of activity, and all modes of activity suggest 
imperfection. Why should the Perfect One act? 
Activity presupposes desire. Self desires nothing, 
for Its existence includes all. Thinking is, again, in 
the highest sense imperfect, because what is thought 
has not been absolutely translated into consciousness. 
Consciousness must supersede thought, consciousness 
includes all that the mind can entertain, ere the state 
of unqualified perfection is reached. So long as the 
unknown exists, the mind manifests. In the realm 
of the knowable thought is ; in the realm of the Un- 
knowable, or rather, in the realm of All-Knowledge, 
thought is extinguished by Supreme Wisdom. 

Eeason is labyrinthian. Unsatisfied with imme- 
diate truth and the revelations of relative knowledge, 
the mind asks the Why of things. The world has 
ever been asking, "Why ?" In the persistence of this 
question, philosophy had birth. The Whence of 
things, science has imperfectly answered in biology, 
geology and other departments. Science has guessed 
at the Whither of life and intelligence. Whence and 
Whither are less difficult than the Why. The Why 
includes the Whence and Whither. But the Why is 
above the cosmos, which is controlled by the Whence 
and the Whither. These questions, however, as the 
Buddha has told his followers, "belong to the desert 
of mere opinion." Arguments after arguments have 



52 Relative Truths. 

been proposed. Systems after systems of philosophy 
have swayed the minds of men, and have lost their 
sway. Philosophy, as all other things, changes with 
the changing experience of Man. It is more perti- 
nent to know the meaning of Self. "When that Self 
is known, all esle is known." The cause of the uni- 
verse and of the soul are both past analysis. The 
Self of creatures and the Self of the cosmos are be- 
yond time, space and causation. Man can never 
know the Why of these, for the mind, conditioned by 
nature, cannot rise above it, nor form any thesis con- 
cerning the ultimate of things. Self can only be dis- 
cerned by Self-realization. The Self of the universe 
and the inner Self of soul must become one. 

Knowing the source of intelligence as infinite in- 
telligence manifest in all beings, the mind must 
identify itself with it. It must realize reality in the 
source of intelligence. The central truth concerning 
the mind is: that within its depths exists the mine 
of all knowledge. The mind is a conduit into which 
omniscience flows. When it passes into and from the 
conduit it is finite intelligence. But the source is 
the eternal essence. Realized in consciousness, this 
truth is Self-knowledge. Conditioned existence, that 
is, the individual soul, is the conduit. When it has 
expressed the entire range of possibilities latent 
within its re-birth-compelling abyss, the conduit is 
closed, and the finite condition which was expressed 
through it is absorbed by the infilling of infinite ex- 
istence and knowledge. As it is, the soul, outwardly 
related to the source of its expression, occupied with 



Eelative Truths. 53 

the outflow of intelligence, fails to recognize that it 
is omniscience and omniexistence which give mani- 
festation to the soul. When certain progress is at- 
tained, however, the soul begins to understand that 
the inflow of intelligence, the principle of manifesta- 
tion is the important factor, without which the phe- 
nomena of life in the strictest sense, are non-existent. 
Less value is accorded the external ; value and reality 
are viewed solely as internal. 

In the pursuit and realization of Self, the soul 
views its existence in the mirror of divine knowl- 
edge; instead of seeing finiteness, it perceives a 
shadow filling all space and time, the shadow of the 
infinite. It becomes passive to outward circumstance 
and hears the inner voice, which speaks in the lan- 
guage of symbol, of faith, of intuition and inspira- 
tion. In following that voice, the soul explores its 
profoundest depth. Realization comes when it 
emerges from the mazes of limitation and ignorance, 
perfected in spiritual discrimination and power. The 
sage controls personality, employing it in the service 
of those who need his assistance. Realization is con- 
trol of the mind and heart, is in passing the line of 
demarcation between conditioned and unconditioned 
intelligence. 

The methods of generalization in philosophy are 
products of the Orient. Western thought deals with 
particulars and specifications. The religious outlook 
of both the Orient and the Occident has been in keep- 
ing with their philosophies. The former, in contem- 
plating existence, has made it universal, and brought 



54 Relative Truths. 

its manifold expression into one synthesizing unit; 
the latter, occupied with immediate truth, reasoning 
from the visible and concrete, little given to mysti- 
cism and speculation, has emphasized the inclusive- 
ness of existence in its visible manifestations. For 
this reason we find scarcely any practical relation of 
Western peoples, as a whole, to the invisible existence 
which mysticism and esotericism imply. Oriental 
philosophy has bequeathed to the Western intellect 
its conception of "planes or spheres of Being.'' 
Christianity and other religions which have found 
expression in Europe and America adhere to the 
truth of the immortality of the soul, but the practical 
bearing of Oriental philosophy explains the character 
and the abode of the existence of those who have gone 
before ; not alone that, it broadens its scope of thought 
and spiritual vision to the recognition of endless ex- 
istence and planes of experience, both below and 
above the plane of human expression. The difference 
between these views manifests in differences of relig- 
ious belief. Christianity teaches that animals, and 
forms of life beneath the animal, are soulless, that 
they are of no greater consequence in the general 
scheme of life than the dust under our feet. The 
Vedantism of East India and Buddhism distinguish 
not only the evolution of humanity, but of all life and 
form. The minutest microscopic life is the expres- 
sion of unmanifested divinity and, as such, its evolu- 
tionary aim is identical with that of the most exalted 
being, — the realization of the perfection within, the 
realization of the God within. Omnipresence ex- 



Relative Truths. 55 

eludes the reality of the minutest life save through 
the Infinite. The God must manifest, whether po- 
tential in the lowest or highest form. "There is but 
one Self which must be perceived and known." The 
philosophers of the Platonic and Socratic schools 
were pantheists in their conception of the cosmos, 
holding to the belief that, if an atom of life is 
sacred, all life is sacred. They not only accorded 
divinity to the human soul, but to each individual 
soul, irrespective of the form it inhabited, whether 
it was vegetal, mineral, animal, or otherwise. They 
recognized but one absolute, universally-immanent 
divine presence. 

Had Christianity paused to reflect upon the abso- 
lute significance of its dogma of omnipresence, the 
dogma of the redemption would never have been 
formulated. Where only one identity exists, there is 
no degree of highness or lowness. It is one presence. 
The divine within cannot sin. Conditioned soul, of 
course, errs; it is clothed with ignorance, but the 
redemption of soul is realized through individual 
effort, never through the gratuitous sacrifice of a 
savior. There is but one "Son of God." He is resi- 
dent in every soul. He alone can redeem the sin 
and falseness of fleeting personality by reincarnating 
the immortal principle of personality. Through end- 
less experience between the dualities of relative 
knowledge and ignorance, misery and joy, pleasure 
and pain, the individual grows into self-redeeming 
wisdom and discrimination between the real and the 
unreal. This is the cross which individualized exist- 



\ 



56 Kelative Truths. 

ence must bear, the cross of repeated lives and innu- 
merable experiences. These thoughts suggest others. 
If all life is sacred and of divine origin, all life is 
immortal. From the animal expression the human 
developed. Animal life, likewise subject to evolu- 
tion, equally progresses. Dreaming humanity sleeps 
within the animal soul. Man, too, progresses. Infi- 
nite distinction of life and fitness exists in the human 
order. The potential god seeks expression in the evo- 
lution of man. The tide of life is unthinkable. 

Philosophers at variance with these truths present 
the argument that animals have no souls, because 
they do not possess the rational instinct ; in this, they 
say, lies the difference between the human and animal 
species. If intelligence is present in the universe it 
is present everywhere. The only difference is in the 
degree of expression. Human beings partake of this 
intelligence in a degree ; but they by no means absorb 
all degrees. The human race expresses but a very 
small part of universal intelligence. What is reason ? 
What does rational instinct mean ? 

Instinctive life has much greater influence and 
area of expression in human life than is imagined. 
The human body has developed through instinctive 
life and expression. Every motion of the body is 
directly or indirectly instinctive. Part of mental life 
is also instinctive. Instinct is only involved reason, 
or reason automatically expressed. When the mind 
is brought in relation to new experience, new grooves 
are made in the brain. The mind recognizes, studies 
and, finally, understands it. The next occasion, the 



Kelative Truths. 57 

mind readily classifies the fact. As this knowledge 
is repeated, it is better established. Finally, what, in 
the beginning, required time and thought, is instan- 
taneously, automatically performed. Conscious men- 
tality is no longer associated with the performance. 
It is now under the action of the subconscious mind. 
In the first fingering of keys and reading of notes, 
the pianist has considerable trouble. When he has 
become perfect he may converse while playing diffi- 
cult selections. This is because the playing, in 
greater part, has become automatized. Attentive 
states of consciousness, employed in the study of fin- 
gering and reading of notes, have been translated into 
subconsciousness. In other words, previous rational 
acts have become instinctive. Thus instinct is reason 
inverted. The difference between human and animal 
intelligence is alone in the fact that animals and 
lower forms of existence apply reason to physical re- 
quirements and contingencies, while man applies rea- 
son to broader circumstances of life and thought. 
The difference in expression is appreciable, drawing 
a distinct line of demarcation between human and 
animal life, but it is only a difference in degree, not 
difference in essence. 

Philology often assists philosophy. In a word lies 
the distinction between the human and animal mind. 
The word "man" is derived from the Sanscrit root- 
verb "man," meaning "to think." Animals follow 
the reflex line of conscious activity. They apply 
thought without any causal connection between them- 
selves and the condition perceived. Man is the con- 



58 Eelative Truths. 

scions thinker. He discriminates between given cir- 
cumstances and objects; he chooses, judges, com- 
pares; he determines, considers, and, particularly, he 
is self-conscious. The animal is entirely reflex, pas- 
sive, receptive ; the reason of man is positive, active, 
anticipant. He is possessed of rational memory ; the 
animal, of instinctive memory. The animal is gen- 
eric in consciousness; man, individual. 

Man is an undetached spark of that Spiritual Sun 
whose action sustains the life and motion of the uni- 
verse. To the limited vision of man the lower orders 
are engulfed in darkness, but the nether is the other 
pole of conscious perception. He fails to see the 
light shining at one extremity, because of the exceed- 
ing brilliance of the light at another extremity. Lo- 
calized perception must extend beyond the local. 
When it considers and embraces all, it is universal. 
True perception can be obtained when the soul is 
aware of the universality of That Presence which 
sustains all within Its intelligence-fraught life. 

Conceive one vast ocean of light. Wherever the 
vision is directed, there is light. Above, below, and 
on all sides, there is light, endless in shade and bril- 
liance. Consider mind, heart, consciousness, person- 
ality as formed from and existing through that light. 
Let even the idea of light be merged into the sea of 
light. The soul then realizes nothing but light. In 
that moment of spiritual illumination, the universe 
has vanished. The visible and numberless objects of 
manifestation lose life and form, merging in the 
omnipresence where form is unknown; where reigns 



Eelative Truths. 59 

the Unthinkable Mind. This concentration leads to 
purity and truth of vision. It is symbolic of the mys- 
tic union of the finite with the Infinite Self. 

In the development of universal concepts and cor- 
responding mystic and emotional states, no psycho- 
logical suicide is committed, in which personality is 
martyred in the cause of superconscious perception. 
The meaning of the personal is in the superpersonal. 
Omnipresent divinity is the essence of the soul. In 
realizing its essence the soul realizes the true Self, 
of which personality is an ephemeral shadow. 

Union with universal intelligence is often con- 
strued as the death of individual intelligence; but 
religion says that the original state from which man 
evolved was perfect. It teaches that the aim of life 
is to return to that initial state. Spiritual intelli- 
gence is the background and working force of all 
knowledge. Instead of tediously laboring to acquire 
relative knowledge, religion admonishes the soul to 
seek that spiritual intelligence which is infused into 
the soul by the Infinite Mind, the Self, Dispenser of 
all wisdom and power. 

The origin of things is superior to their highest 
evolutionary development ; the latter cannot last, for, 
by disintegration and involution, it returns to the 
causal, original state. Man has developed from a 
condition greater than the present. The unmani- 
fested includes both the potential and manifested. 
The unmanifested stands in relation to the mani- 
fested as the definite to the indefinite. The causal 
state of man is definite. The manifested state, 



'60 Relative Truths. 

subject to change and disintegration, is indefinite. 
In the unmanifested there is infinite potentiality 
which the manifested can never express. The essence 
of the soul is greater than its expression. Expression 
can never be absolute ; the inner essence of the soul is 
absolute. States of expression are always relatively 
imperfect. Man is a counterfeit of his divinity. 
No matter how complete expression is, it is bound 
by time and form, and the essence of the soul is form- 
less and eternal. 

There can only be a constant amelioration of the 
radically imperfect. Man, identified with this im- 
perfect existence, can never realize the essence of his 
nature within its limitation. He must consider Self 
as the sole truth and deny the bondage of imperfect 
existence. However alluring and seemingly real, 
there is no truth, nor reality apart from the indwell- 
ing Spirit. The sage, truly appreciating the evan- 
escence of all things, exclaims with Solomon: "Van- 
ity of vanities. All is vanity and vexation of Spirit." 

Man meets with varied emotional experiences, but 
emotional fervor passes. The thirsty traveller on the 
desert sees sparkling streams and wooded lands. It 
is a mirage. He must have the water of life for 
which he is famishing. Man wanders through the 
desert of life, deluded with mirages. He colors them 
with the magic of a great desire, but the mirages of 
life are as evanescent as desert mirages. They further 
sorrow and renew the fever of desire. Life is a pro- 
tracted dream in which we imagine ourselves now 
possessed of wealth, power, fame and numerous sense 



Eelative Truths. 61 

enjoyments, then afflicted with want, poverty, misery 
and physical discomfort. When the day of spiritual 
discrimination dawns, and the morning sun of spir- 
itual intelligence rises, this dreaming will cease. 
The soul will awaken with knowledge of its true 
nature, which is eternal, unconditioned Godhead. 

Human nature is childlike, ever in a state of want. 
To keep the child from crying, its parents give it what 
it wishes. After a short time the ardently desired 
object lies in some corner, mutilated and unrecogniz- 
able. Often the child wants something dangerous to 
handle, gets it, and is hurt. The soul is like a child. 
It desires object after object. Many of the things the 
soul desired in the past are now cast aside and for- 
gotten. Men constantly consign the realizations of 
desire into the garret of life. They continue and 
continue to desire and the curse of desire is the neces- 
sity for its realization. Life after life we reap the 
fruits of desire, and as long as desire continues life 
also continues. Often we wish for things which we 
think will please us, but we mistake the nature of 
the thing desired, and the fruit is pain. To rid him- 
self of the tyranny of desire over reason, Socrates 
was wont to pass the shops in Athens and say to his 
followers: a Behold ! how many things there are of 
which man has no need." He spoke thus, not alone 
of physical good, but of the objects of emotion and 
passion. 

All conditions of life are born of desire. Desire, 
charmed with the things it observes, clasps them to 
its heart. In that embrace the mind is born a slave. 



62 Kelative Truths. 

This birth is endlessly recurrent so that the mind is 
slave to innumerable conditions. Through uncon- 
trolled desire the soul is shorn of its inner greatness 
and power. Desire is often palliated through the 
idealization of its object. It is criticized in its pur- 
poses. When it has possession as its end it is un- 
worthy. Self-knowledge and the perfection which it 
involves is alone worthy. There are desires "to be," 
and they are the desires of the gods. Where material 
desire manifests, there is little room for spiritual evo- 
lution. "Where desire is, there is no room for 
Rama." One cannot serve both God and Mammon. 
Desire reaches perfection when it ceases its material 
direction and purpose and centres on the development 
of mind, heart, and soul. This desire perfects char- 
acter. It is desire without its scarlet color; desire 
clad in the purity of truth. It is the inversion of 
desire which is alone criticizable. Man must have 
desires. Desire is growth, but only desires having 
the realization of the best within as their goal. 

The body is the principle of which the soul seems 
most cognizant, yet it is not the body but the "desire 
self" which conditions the wants of the body. The 
body is only an instrument. Desire is an enlivening 
force, propelling the body, a principle through which 
consciousness manifests on the physical plane. All 
physical sensation as hunger, thirst, and other physi- 
cal needs belong to this principle; also all forms of 
emotions as hatred, love, and the many manifold 
feelings, which sway the soul. Sensations and emo- 
tions do not, in strictest reality, belong to the mental 



Eelative Truths. 63 

realm. The mind is a principle through which con- 
sciousness manifests on the plane of thought. These 
fine distinctions between planes of thought and sensa- 
tion and emotion must be made. Esotericism insists 
on them, and teaches that both the principle of desire 
and that of mind are possessed of instruments and 
bodies. Desire and its instrument must not be con- 
fused with consciousness. Desire is only a force pos- 
sessed of a desire body. The mind is only a princi- 
ple possessed of force and a mental body. The phy- 
sical body is only a form developed from the principle 
of physical force. It is consciousness alone which 
exists, manifesting through the principles of mind 
and desire, and reaches the planes of expression of 
mind and desire through the instrumentality of re- 
spective bodies. 

The desire body is composed of finer particles of 
matter than the physical body, and the mental body 
of still rarer matter. This desire body is subject to 
change and disintegration, just as the physical instru- 
ment. In each incarnation, the desire body is re- 
formed, even as the general status of personality is 
changed. The reason is that desire changes in de- 
gree of expression. It is subject to growth. As the 
individual clothes himself in different garments as 
he passes through infancy, youth and manhood, so, in 
the evolutionary course, the individual clothes him- 
self in various bodies accordingly as consciousness 
has manifested in the life past. The principle of 
desire, purified and directed to higher ideals, ex- 
presses itself in a higher form. And the converse is 



64 Relative Truths. 

true. The soul may lapse into previous conditions, 
and find itself in a coarser physical body, the result 
of the coarsening the desire body has undergone. 
Each of the bodies is influenced by the condition of 
the others. If the mentality is imperfectly educated, 
desire has greater scope. If the mind is perfectly 
balanced, desire has less influence. If the health of 
the body is maintained, both the desire and mental 
bodies are unobstructed in relation to physical expres- 
sion. The influence of desire in changing physical 
vibrations is noticed in life. If one who has lived the 
spiritual or philosophical life falls prey to sense se- 
ductions, his facial expression will change. That 
limpidness of eye, grace of carriage, and loftiness of 
countenance vanishes; in its place are coarseness of 
features and expression. The body is under the im- 
mediate formative influence of the desire-body. In 
this sense, too much stress cannot be placed on the 
purification of desire, its refinement and relation to 
high ideals. When desire has become artistic in mani- 
festation, its coarseness and putrescence vanishes and, 
instead of coarseness, it will give the body artistic 
polish, refinement of lineament and bodily deport- 
ment. True refinement of desire expresses itself 
when the mind sheds its discriminating influence 
over ideals of desire. Then passion is transposed 
into artistic and higher emotional feeling. In coarser 
phases of manifestation, feeling is ephemeral and 
purely instinctive. It is the sudden effervescence and 
alienation of feeling. This is the action of mere 
physical desires. In the development and the special- 



Eelative Truths. 65 

ization of its activity, feeling is more continuous and 
differs widely from mere sensuousness. Love and 
passion arouse distinct sets of emotion. In love, re- 
finement and high ideals translate animal tendencies 
into lofty emotional and spiritual tendencies. Pas- 
sion has no stable qualities, and is short-lived. The 
principle of desire is working on a low basis of ex- 
pression. The evolution of feeling brings desire into 
purer realms ; it is the basis of conjugal love. 

The real seat of all sensation is the desire body. 
Psychology says the same thing. In spiritual philos- 
ophy, psychology has greater importance than physi- 
ology, because the principles of the former determine 
the qualities and activities of the physical body. 

Desire changes and passes. Firmly established is 
the mind which correlates the experiences of desire 
into the appreciation of right and wrong. Mind and 
desire compose personality. The spiritual principle 
has relation, but only through the purification of both 
mind and desire. Personality is the synthesis of 
sensations, emotions and thoughts. It is the tem- 
poral manifestation of individuality. Personality is 
made of the conscious activities of earth life. Indi- 
viduality, the individualized undetached spark of 
spiritual intelligence, is the absorbing essence of per- 
sonality. As the personality is the same, though un- 
dergoing the innumerable experiences of life, as it is 
the same, though in different places and under differ- 
ent surroundings, so the individual, author of per- 
sonality, is the same, though experiencing repeated 
births and various evolutionary stages. 



66 Relative Truths. 

It is written in "The Voice of the Silence" : "Have 
perseverance as one who doth for evermore endure. 
Thy shadows (personalities) live and vanish; that 
which in thee shall live for ever, that which in thee 
knows j for it is knowledge, is not of fleeting life ; it 
is the man that was, that is, and will be, for whom 
the hour shall never strike." Personality is a myth, 
a fleeting shadow, an unreality, a thing which passes. 
Individuality never passes, is free from limitations. 
The growth and expansion of individuality is the 
aim of evolutionary progress. Certainly, nature, 
with all the indefinite development of the past, all 
the evolving influences of the present, is not busied 
with transiency, and personality is transient. The 
source of personality is individuality. Through the 
experiences of numberless personalities this individu- 
ality progresses in manifestation. Evolution has im- 
portance and significance in this light. The end of 
nature is to reveal the nature of the soul, which is "the 
secret of all wisdom and the soul of all knowledge." 
This assurance is personalized in the wonderful char- 
acters, whose will and command have steered the 
course of civilization into progressive channels. These 
characters have realized Self. They are the radiant 
sons of light who come as Sri Krishna says: "when 
viciousness is prevalent and good principles need 
invigoration." 

The individual is the eternal thinker, apart from 
the physical, uncontrolled by any force, free, ever 
blissful, and all perfect. Though pure and free, the 
individual is not at oneness with the Infinite of 



Eelative Truths. 67 

which it is a ray. The object of evolution is the 
union of the individual ray with the ocean of endless 
light. At each incarnation, the individual radiates 
a portion of its substance which becomes a separate 
being, a personality. The personality finds itself 
within the possibilities of a respective epoch, and 
has the responsibility of reaping experience con- 
ducive to its education. The goal of human birth is 
enrichment of personality, the broadening of vision 
and activity of the lower, so that the higher may 
manifest. 

Man is like a traveller in a new land. Unac- 
quainted with the topography of the country, the ex- 
plorer often experiences sad mishaps. Frequently 
he meets with dire misfortune. But with hardship 
and struggle the land is explored, and through this 
advantages are open to newcomers. The difficulty 
and the mistakes have been a part of the final tri- 
umph, for experience and knowledge developed with 
trial and failing. Where one would have avoided 
mistake, another would have failed. Some one must 
err, and others profit by the experience. In the great 
wilderness of human life, the soul is ever confronted 
with the unknown. Mistakes are largely the result 
of inexperience, of weakness and of difficulty of 
progress. Most of the infringements of moral law 
are not through viciousness, and, therefore, retribu- 
tion is rather in ratio to knowledge of right and 
wrong, than to the fulness of the error. 

Man is on the ascending path to the realization of 
his nature. The individual can accelerate natural 



68 Kelative Truths. 

evolution by directing consciousness to high purpose. 
He is not bound to follow in the wake of the average. 
Filled with the burning desire to sound the depths 
of the soul, filled with the desire to break the barriers 
of material imperfection and of ignorance, the soul 
progresses by leaps and bounds. 

In the fulness of desire is the perfection of knowl- 
edge, for desire related to the ideal of Self-knowledge 
opens the doorway to spiritual truth and conscious- 
ness. 



MAN AND HIS SHADOW. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



MAN AND HIS SHADOW. 



Who is the real man \ It is he who feels through 
the senses, perceives through the mind, and discrim- 
inates through the intellect. The real man is the 
experiencer, developing in knowledge and expression 
through changing states of existence. The real man 
is neither the body, nor mind, but the soul, utilizing 
these only as instruments to relate it to spheres of 
mental and physical experience. 

Man is the creator, the sustaining force, and the 
dissolver of his own world, and the world of each is 
widely different form the world of another. Each 
individual is isolated from the rest of life, for each 
life has its separate course, its own path to make, 
its individual destiny, and its particular mode of 
expression. Though divergent in manifestation, 
every being has the same origin and ultimate unity 
as all others. 

Truly, each man is a vessel, self-manned and self- 
propelled, afloat on the shoreless ocean of existence. 
Each soul is the pilot of its own expression ; each in- 
dividual fate the pathway of a single vessel. Men 
are "ships that pass in the night." They meet; their 
destinies may cross; their interests blend, but each 
person is to himself. Xone can help ; none can save. 



72 Man and His Shadow. 

The individual is his own helper and his own savior. 
Now and then the path of two seem to blend into a 
single way. The line of distinction, however, is 
dreadfully separate. 

.What appears as external is really internal. "What 
appears as without is the circling of the vibrations 
within. / Each person is a potential god. The Self 
of each individual is the Self of all men, gods and 
breathing beings. Each is the teacher and student 
of his individual existence. Each soul is its problem- 
maker and problem-solver. The thought of this sep- 
arateness is awesome. Great teachers, emphasizing 
this separateness, have said : "The wise are only great 
preachers. You yourselves must make an effort." 
Saviors incarnate give spiritual motive-force, but the 
individual soul must keep the divine spark alive with 
the breath of spiritual resolution. The soul must 
save and redeem itself from the curse of superstition 
and the thralldom of ignorance. Each is free to pur- 
sue whatever course is desired. It is the privilege of 
the soul to express freedom of thought and expres- 
sion. The Law, however, is a part of the soul's 
nature, and follows every expression, whether high 
or low, good or evil. The sages who have transmitted 
their knowledge to the race climbed the upward path 
in the solitude of individual effort. The struggle for, 
and the experience of realization is individual. 

Alien in nature, man traverses the cycle of time 
with the veil of illusion covering true perception. In 
his spiritual unfoldment man passes through stages of 
doubt. Materialism points bodyward, idealism, 



Man and His Shadow. 73 

mindward. Moments come when both materialism 
and idealism prove insufficient, and the soul merges 
into agnosticism. Every soul of spiritual develop- 
ment has passed through these stages into a broader 
outlook on life where differences consistently meet 
and their divergent qualities unite through the dis- 
crimination of spirit. Much depends on the truth 
that there is no limit to perception and understand- 
ing; that each effort to perceive substantial values of 
life is followed by gain. No one can knock at the 
door of life without being answered. The answer 
may come as a mystical assurance that the soul is 
at union with the life and reality behind universal 
expression. It may come as intuitive solutions in 
the philosophical field. 

An emotion presupposes the existence of its object. 
It is unreasonable that the soul could relate its desire 
and effort to the non-existent. The soul could not con- 
ceive Self unless It were. Reason is conditioned by 
sense experience. Religion, Self - knowledge and 
spiritual consciousness are beyond the senses and the 
mind. The highest truth could not be, were it com- 
prehensible to sense-nourished reason. When the 
soul comes face to face with the essence of its nature, 
it does not reason, for it directly perceives. There 
is never argument concerning the existence and real- 
ity of visible and tangible objects. The sage is cog- 
nizant of spiritual facts even more than men are of 
their bodily surroundings. Realization has little to 
do with the intellectual perception of truth. The 
soul can never be satisfied until, as the Vedas say, it 



74 Man and His Shadow. 

"sees, hears, perceives and knows that Self." Those 
who arrive at this vision of truth are of few words. 
They do not convince by argument, but impart their 
knowledge as a friend imparts a flower. Religion is 
a live force. A great teacher, who aroused Europe 
and America with his masterly eloquence, said that if 
he had religion, spiritual insight and knowledge, it 
was due to one, so inspired with spiritual vision and 
truth, that his very presence radiated divine insight. 
Everything has its aura. Everything is permeated 
with its life-force. This life-force has influence and 
color. Clairvoyantly it can be seen. The existence 
and condition of auras explain sudden and peculiar 
attachments and aversions. The aura of a god-like 
character vibrates with tremendous influence, for his 
personality is illuminated with greatest spiritual 
knowledge and feeling. Contact with such a char- 
acter inspires spirituality. The truth of his words 
is self-evident. His enthusiasm is contagious. This 
explains the authoritive influence of religious teach- 
ers. Their personality is so rich that all who come 
into their presence are devoted to them. The reason is 
that they touch the soul. They awaken deepest im- 
pulses and purest emotions. As the sensuous emo- 
tions cannot be compared with the dull motions of 
material forces, so spiritual emotions are not com- 
parable with the insentience of sensuous emotions. 
"In this world of insentience he who sees that One 
Who is the vivifying light of all, unto him comes 
eternal peace, unto none else, unto none else." That 
One is the Soul of all souls. That One is the Self, 



Man and His Shadow. 75 

the truly Immortal, Whom the gods worship and 
Whom all knowers of Self adore. 

One of the fruits of spiritual worthiness is that 
through the Law the soul is granted the realization of 
desires consistent with true welfare. All things are 
added to those who strive. The important attitude in 
the materialization of desire is patience. Nothing 
can be accomplished by impatience and worry. Nerv- 
ousness is the result of fretfulness and is, in turn, the 
origin of functional disorders. Nervousness is de- 
structive to the realization of any purpose, for it dis- 
turbs harmony of mind, a necessary condition for 
concentration. Mental activity is directly or indi- 
rectly associated with the action of the nerve system. 
If the nerve be disturbed, the consequence is mental 
indecision and emotional uncertainty. No person can 
think or work to the best advantage under nerve pres- 
sure. Best results are forthcoming only when the 
physical is in proper vibration. The seeker after 
truth must have perfect control over the physical, 
avoiding anything conducive to nervousness. He 
should abstain from associations causing mental or 
spiritual inharmony, nervous irritation, or morbid- 
ness. Associations have great influence through their 
vibrations. Suggestion through expression and con- 
duct awakens the imitative impulse. 

There is nothing more efficacious in the riddance of 
nervousness than concentration. Apart from intri- 
cate psychological definitions, concentration is placid- 
ity of temper, harmony of thought, patience in cir- 
cumstances, spiritual-mindedness and other qualities 



76 Man and His Shadow. 

which allow even expression of the mind in its service 
to the soul. The mind depends on the body ; the body, 
on the mind. Nervous prostration is largely due to 
inharmonious thought and inverted emotions. Worry 
is the disease of the age. If the soul is in true rela- 
tion to Self, nothing can harm the body. The bird of 
the air is supported by the providence of Self. It is 
the duty of a father to provide for his children. It is 
the nature of Self to meet the needs of those who are 
mindful of Self. The most beautiful feature in spir- 
itual knowledge is the confidence it gives and encour- 
ages. Trust, implicit and never-failing, is character- 
istic of the spiritually awakened. Things come to 
them because of their unquestioning trust. The sage 
experiences the beneficent results of such trust in its 
psychic connection. Trust is passive desire, most 
potent of all desires. 

The spiritually informed appreciate the usefulness 
of non-resistance. Struggling with conditions is often 
a waste of energy. Resistance frequently increases 
unpleasantness. Discrimination imparts that spirit 
of resignation which is not self-pity in disguise, but 
stalwart resignation. Many allege that non-resistance 
to evil and resignation weaken the soul, unfiting it in 
the battle of life, but history attests the contrary. 
The greatest persons of all times possess these quali- 
ties. The practical application of non-resistance is 
exemplified in the jiu-jitsu of the Japanese. The 
antagonist wastes his strength in futile effort, while 
his opponent is passive, interested only in warding off 
blows. The psychological moment arrives when the 



Man and His Shadow. 77 

antagonist, weakened by his own effort, is overcome. 
Resignation becomes the mightiest of men. If great 
generals were despondant over losses, their successes 
would be few. They are resigned to the tide of for- 
tune and await the odds of opportunity. The busi- 
ness man has no time for useless worry; he is too 
busy ameliorating conditions. These qualities, spir- 
itually translated, have deeper meaning and char- 
acter. They render the soul passive to harmful ma- 
terial conditions and give it stamina in the hour of 
great struggle. Non-resistance and resignation are 
positive factors in the realization of moral and spir- 
itual values.. 

Realization is for the strong in character, the coura- 
geous of heart; it is for those who will and do. A 
cheerful mind is necessary in the struggle, for the 
mind, fortified with cheerfulness, does not lose the 
vision of its purpose, whenever obstruction intervenes. 
There is a common sense point of view in every affair, 
whether it be religious, philosophical, commercial, or 
domestic. Sane attitudes must be had with regard to 
religion. Religion must change its commonly ac- 
cepted understanding and come into the daylight of 
intelligence. It must rid itself of the dogmatic idea 
of punishment, and teach that all punishment is from 
within. It must change the attitude in prayer. There 
is no god who will stop the wheel of the Law in an- 
swer to prayer. Prayers are generally selfish. Prayer 
should have no other motive nor aim than knowledge, 
light, sympathy and strength. Those prayers are 
alone worthy prayers ; others are the cries of children 



78 Man and His Shadow. 

who do not know what is best to desire. Men are not 
the impartial judges of their needs. Selfishness blinds 
the vision. The Spirit provides for Its devotees. 
The sage understands the principle of the command : 
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all things 
shall be added unto you." First seek the higher, and 
the lower will naturally and plentifully follow. 

The cause of selfishness is a false view of the es- 
sential reality of the individual soul. The fleeting 
personality receives undivided attention; reality is 
accredited to it, when that quality is only identified 
with the Self within. In this misconception misery 
and ignorance develop. In this misconception sense 
attachment and its bondage control the mind. The 
only error is the wrong view of Self, but the error 
includes all others; it is primary and capital. The 
soul wanders through re-birth until it discovers its 
nature. 

Expression is more than thought. It is the descrip- 
tion and manifestation of thought. The meaning of 
thought is realized through its manifestation, and its 
manifestation is conduct. Religious teachers are 
practitioners of belief, rather than verbal exponents. 
Argument obtains in the first stages of spiritual de- 
velopment. The intellect must be satisfied, and has 
a right to be convinced. The way which has been 
travelled should be clear and unbroken. The mists 
of doubt should have been dispersed. Let any one 
principle be incompletely developed and other prin- 
ciples are one-sided. As far as the soul has perfected 
its uufoldment, the whole man must be educated, con- 



Man and His Shadow. 79 

trolled, purged of inverted beliefs and desires. The 
machine of principles through which man manifests 
must be delicately balanced, else disturbance sets in. 
The decay of religions is through the maladjustment 
between the intellect and the soul. A religion is the 
outward presentation of inner mental and emotional 
relations of the individual soul to the Supreme. 
Efficient religions respond to both the intellectual and 
emotional need. These religions have outlived the 
centuries. They are rich in symbolism and color, 
but the ceremonial is in keeping with developed the- 
ological eclecticism. The mind is dependent on the 
imagination. The imagination is supported by reason 
and, in turn, supports reason. All knowledge is 
symbolic and can never be ultimately real, for no 
system of thought, however inclusive, can ever fully 
answer the query of the soul with regard to its nature. 
"Self is perceived alone by Self." 

Music is never fully comprehended. There is so 
much beyond external concordances of sound, so much 
beyond harmony which is of the soul. The relation 
between sound and hearing is psychological. The 
vibrations of the soul and of music are coextensive 
in influence. Everything is vibration; when vibra- 
tions between the soul aud on what it is centered are 
equal, the soul understands. If the vibrations differ 
in character and modification from those of the soul, 
it does not understand. Understanding is a matter 
of vibration ; vibration, another word for feeling, and 
feeling expresses the activity of consciousness. 

Soul alone can impress conscious values on the 



80 Man and His Shadow. 

many dualities of emotion, attachment, aversion and 
so on. It is rather advanced to state that music has 
soul, that each expression of sound is soul. If it 
were not true, however, how could the inert call forth 
the activity of sensitive and specialized conscious- 
ness ? Nothing can arouse the soul save what pos- 
sesses the essence of soul. Music is symbolic ; knowl- 
edge is symbolic. They have power in stimulating 
the spiritual essence of man. In every religion music 
is embodied in liturgy, and knowledge in theology 
and esoteric philosophy. Through their activity the 
vibrations of spiritual truth affect the soul. 

One-sixteenth portion of effort widens the avenues 
of spiritual understanding, accelerates the manifes- 
tation of the intuitive, increases mental possibili- 
ties, strengthens the physical and develops spiritual 
power and control. The mind must affiliate itself 
with the necessary surroundings. It must develop 
the staying support of the imaginative. It must 
bring itself into harmony with the richness of 
symbolism. It must increase the emotional suscepti- 
bilities through the contemplation of sorrow, through 
the contemplation of joy, through passiveness to 
musical harmonies of sacred character. It must learn 
to sense the divine in all things. It must discover the 
methods of proper relation to the source of all per- 
ception and power, the infinite energy behind nature 
and consciousness. It must consciously perceive 
through the soul the essential illuminating Spirit. It 
must repeat the assertion: a Self is not mind, nor 
anything identified with mind. Self is not body, nor 



Man and His Shadow. 81 

anything identified with body." In the ultimate, 
Spirit alone exists and, if reality and existence are 
to be accorded to anght else, it can only be through 
the everlasting Spirit. All these visions, fleeting and 
characterless, except through the understanding of 
soul, must be transposed. The mind must review it- 
self, not through a process of logical analysis, but 
through direct sight and discrimination of soul. It 
must realize that this manifold universe is a figment 
of the mind, that mind and matter have, by some 
unknowable process, become intermingled, and that 
through this mixture all these phantasms of relative 
existence and relative truth have meaning and char- 
acter. This line of thought is, to all appearances, 
outclassed by the question: "How did mind become 
mixed with nature ? How did the ever perfect soul 
become imperfect?" The only and final answer 
which can be given is the answer of unanswerable 
logic. A proposition beyond time, space and causa- 
tion cannot be formulated. Soul cannot deny the 
existence of soul. It asserts: "I am." Conscious- 
ness cannot analize consciousness because it is con- 
sciousness which is analyizing itself and subjective 
consciousness is eternally unanalizable. The un- 
analizable is one with the unanswerable question: 
"How did the universe originate ? How did mind 
become mixed with matter V 9 The proper question to 
ask is : "What is the soul ?" That, too, is unknow- 
able, because the finite expression of the soul is within 
the laws of space, time and causation. "How should 
this finite self know the Infinite Knower?" How, 



82 Man and His Shadow. 

too, should the Infinite Knower, know the finite self ? 
Busied with the endless procession of temporal wants 
and fleeting satisfactions, this lower self, caught 
within the cyclings of life and death, is too imperfect 
to comprehend the essence of the soul. The Infinite, 
the Holy and Perfect One is conscious only of Him- 
self, and in that consciousness is: "Existence Abso- 
lute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute." He is the 
Blissful One, the Omniscient One, He the Ancient, 
Unborn, Everlasting. This body comes, this mind 
goes, this personality changes, this individuality, to 
become perfect, must also go. All must be merged 
within the infinite ocean of pure existence and pure 
knowledge. All other aspiration is of the false ego, 
all other desire, the desire of selfishness, all other 
activity, the activity of the unworthy. The highest 
psychic power is passiveness to all power ; the highest 
knowledge, the passive knowledge of everlasting con- 
sciousness ; the highest joy, the bliss of the eternal. 

How weak is reason ! Kant has told us that there 
is a wall which conditions the ultimate activity of 
reason, preventing it from ever reaching beyond the 
perception and inference of the sensuous. Kant has 
told of transcendental values; of values beyond the 
senses; yea, even beyond the mind. In his exalted 
philosophy he has reunited reason and truth ; reason 
and the meaning of the ethical; reason and the use- 
fulness and gain of self -contemplation ; reason and 
the religious instinct; reason and the reality of the 
divine. But that fundamental system of thought 
which developed into the Vedas, which developed into 



Man and His Shadow. 83 

the Zarathnstrian Gathas, that system of thought 
which traversed the Orient into Greece and Rome, 
went farther even than Kant, for it developed the 
system of introspection to which Kant referred. If 
there are things beyond reason they must be sought 
out; if there are truths beyond sensuous perception, 
those truths must be learned; if there is the real 
man above this limited manifestaiion, then that man 
must be born to consciousness. If there is the divine, 
the depths of the soul must cry unto the depths of the 
divine for illumination and realization. How limited, 
how infantile, how utterly beneath are we ! Our true 
nature is the cosmic divine, the transcendent divine, 
the eternal, the beginningless and endless. Whipped 
as a dog, treated with contempt, the slave has only the 
consciousness of the slave, of his miserable lot, of his 
limited condition, of his weakness and disgrace, of 
his low place in the vast order of life. But when 
the slave gains his freedom, when his shackles are re- 
moved, then he no longer obeys the whims of a mas- 
ter ; the slave is transformed into a man, free to come 
and go as he will,. free to do as he chooses. He may 
become successful in his business pursuit. He may 
acquire wealth. He may develop his intelligence 
through proper association and surrounding. In a 
short time what difference manifests in that man! 
All the difference in the world. That is just the case 
with each and every soul. Men are bound hand and 
foot, thrown, as it were, into this condition of imper- 
fect existence. They have lost sight of their true 
nature and grovel in the dust of desires incomparably 



84 Man and His Shadow. 

beneath the nature of the pure and divine. Limita- 
tion upon limitation! This entire universe is a lim- 
itation which has been superimposed upon the soul. 
In what respect is the soul free ? Only as it associates 
the activity of the lower self with the activity of the 
law. 

In the law there is illimitable freedom. With- 
out the pale of the law is bondage, slavery, pain. 
The nature of the soul is law. The essence of the 
soul is law. When men blaspheme their natures they 
bear the curse, and that curse is the sad and miser- 
able side of life. Nature leads us through this in- 
definiteness of phenomenal life, showing us the un- 
worthiness, the nothingness, the emptiness of every- 
thing. She forms the material environment and cir- 
cumstances so the soul can transcend these shadows 
and falseness. She unfastens the chain of material 
bondage. When the soul has become worthy of such 
reward, she gives it command over the material and 
the lower phases of material life; she reveals the 
indescribable nature and power of the inner life, 
the life which is the true support of material life. 
From control of the material, she leads the soul to 
the understanding and control of the inner life. She 
shows the soul of what substance the mind is com- 
posed. She leads it to the understanding of the 
existential conditions of thought. She tells it the nat- 
ure of thought, the conditions of its activity, its in- 
fluence and its power. When the mind becomes ac- 
quainted with anything it controls it. After having 
come to a complete understanding of limited manifes- 



Man and His Shadow. 85 

tation, after having gained control over it, after hav- 
ing absorbed that knowledge so that it is ever at our 
disposal, the soul attains to that superior understand- 
ing absorbed that knowledge so that it is ever at its 
glimpse of the beyond. The material sciences gain 
control over material energy by the force of persistent 
investigation. 

Persistent investigation and the discovery of tran- 
scendent life are not external, but introspective. All 
the knowledge of existence outside of the mind is of 
no avail. It may lead to some important inference, 
but it cannot explain the entire truth. For illumina- 
tion is not a matter of rational perception, but of intu- 
itive discrimination. The mind must see itself, the 
mind must explain itself. The Law takes the soul into 
familiar relationship, explaining all things and intro- 
ducing its perception in all the avenues of life and 
death. The Law is one ; the Law is truth ; the Law 
is life; the Law is Alpha and Omega. Within the 
boundaries of its activity all relative existence is con- 
trolled. Beyond the Law is the Unconditioned, the 
Perfect. Only those within the wheel are bound. 
Taking the axe of spiritual understanding, split the 
pole which holds and conditions the activity of the 
two wheels of duality. When the pole is split, the 
wheels circle a moment or so longer, and finally both 
cease. Then the soul has passed into that indiscern- 
ible of states, which cannot be described either by 
"Yes" or "No." 

In the realm of the finite everything is conditioned. 
Name is conditioned, form is conditioned, life is con- 



8Q Man and His Shadow. 

ditioned. Xames are deceptive, in so far as they 
never fully convey the meaning of thought. There 
are thoughts which no words can adequately express. 
They are beyond the conscious mind, but the con- 
scious mind has a premonition of their character and 
import. Just as in certain efforts at memory the 
mind must become silent before it can remember, so 
many thoughts must be allowed to form in the sub- 
conscious mind. Trying to develop their character 
is equal to destroying them. Many take life in its 
surface appearance. But the surface appearance is 
conditioned through the subconscious element. All 
discovery, all invention, all genius, all revelation 
comes through the avenue of the subconscious and 
intuitive. Thoughts form beneath the surface of con- 
sciousness and then flash across the mind as a new 
truth, or as some material discovery. The intuitive 
or supernormal mind is the storehouse of all knowl- 
edge. When the soul enters into the superconscious 
realm, it is in relationship with the origin and forma- 
tion of objective knowledge. All knowledge has its 
source in the intuitive. Intuitive knowledge is 
potential. It is now involved. The aim is to get that 
knowledge evolved into personal perception, and into 
conscious understanding. This storehouse of endless 
knowledge must be opened. Consciousness must enter 
and discern truth. The mind proceeds to conquer the 
external by knowledge. With every acquisition, con- 
sciousness grows larger and the external smaller. 
After a great part of the way has been travelled, con- 
sciousness is the central fact, while the phenomenal 



Man and His Shadow. 87 

constantly loses reality. Consciousness has absorbed 
the phenomenal, proving that all things proceed from 
consciousness, that all things have significance only 
as interpreted through consciousness. If a man is 
physically separated from a portion of his property 
he would not, under any circumstance, claim that the 
property was not his. A portion of infinite conscious- 
ness is separated from the central consciousness, and 
regarded as individual. The severed portion is called 
the world of phenomena. As it grows in knowledge the 
soul discovers that the universe is within itself. The 
greatness of the lower self is in the existence of the 
higher Self, and that Self is beyond duality. Through 
the manifestation of that Self Its images are reckoned 
as many, when Self alone is. 

The mind, in its normal phases, is conditioned 
under the laws of time, space and causation as they 
affect this plane of life. But the mind is not exclus- 
ively conditioned by the activity of these laws. It 
can rise above them by concentration. In ordinary 
concentration when the mind pays attention to the 
things in which it is interested, time quickly flies. 
Surroundings are forgotten. The mind, absorbed, is 
unaware of other things. Conditioned into one wave- 
form, the mind suppresses the many other wave forms 
which flood it, when it is not strictly concentrated upon 
one given strain of thought. Time is conditioned 
through the meaning given it by consciousness. Its 
phases of duration and conscious value entirely de- 
pend on the significance which consciousness attaches. 
In the dream state a series of experiences may occux* 



88 Man and His Shadow. 

within the shortest space of time. Men have dreamed 
that they were soldiers on battlefields of long-pro- 
tracted wars. Men have dreamed they rose from 
obscurity to fame in time which would in reality 
require years, the dream occupying only a few 
seconds. This illustrates that for consciousness to 
appreciate realities needs but a flash of time. It 
explains how consciousness, independent of body, can 
travel to the most distant places, and become aware of 
experiences remote in time and distance. Thought 
is not bound by obstructions of the physical. Thought, 
composed of rarer material particles, is unmixed with 
the variations of the physical, surpasses them, con- 
trols and determines their activity. The thinker is 
the real man. Because of the desire of the real man 
to experience the sensuous existence of physical 
environment and relationship, he is placed in 
causal connection with the material plane through the 
instrumentality of physical and ethereal vibrations. 
But when the thinker grows into the knowledge that, 
in reality, he is free from the thraldom of the phys- 
ical, when he realizes that he is above it, if he so 
wishes to be, when he understands that all material 
vibrations are created by his wishes, that the thinker 
can regulate and distribute them to the best advan- 
tage, he can go beyond this particular plane of time, 
space and causation. He can divert consciousness to 
any condition desired. A person thinks of childhood 
days, of his home, and so on. Where is his con- 
sciousness ? It is where his memory is. Memory 
is not something separate from consciousness. It is 



Man and His Shadow. 89 

an adaptation of consciousness to the past. In ratio 
to the quality and area of embraciveness of the 
memory is consciousness enabled to transpose it- 
self in the degree. Supposing that memory is 
perfect, then the entire consciousness can be rele- 
gated to the past. Distinctions between memory 
and consciousness are made, because as yet man is 
not conscious of the methods for perfecting the quali- 
ties of memory. Everything is consciousness, only 
there are different modes of its expression. When 
consciousness is in activity, it manifests as will. But 
the will is in no wise separate from consciousness. 

As all variations of consciousness are the same in 
essence, the development of any separate activity such 
as memory or intellect will have its general in- 
fluence. Consciousness is developed in its area of 
perception and in its expression. Through the 
unintermittent association of mind with body, con- 
sciousness is almost entirely concerned with phys- 
ical life and expression. When the mind ap- 
preciates the body in its proper relation to conscious- 
ness it transcends the limitations of the body and 
perceives facts and truths beyond the isolated phys- 
ical. It will perceive the all-important existence of 
the soul. The thinker will discover himself. Tie will 
come to appreciate that time, space and causation are 
conditioned by the largeness of perception of the ever 
sentient ego, that the ever sentient ego is alone the 
criterion of reality. 

In the struggle for those things which count in 
the summing up of perfection of character and the 



90 Man and His Shadow. 

development of consciousness, the soul ever has super- 
abundant help. The feet of the traveller are not 
likely to stray into the pathway of the erroneous, for 
his hands are held by the Lords of Being and his stay- 
ing support is the all-containing energy and fulness 
of intelligence behind nature which also form the 
essential and everlasting background of the soul. 
Though no one lent the soul support in the indivi- 
dual search after truth, there is always the Teacher 
within, ever ready to assist it in the hour of need. 
In its effort, the soul must be sincere, worthy in 
aspiration, determined in purpose, ever mindful of 
the larger truth. It must accentuate the higher, curb 
the lower, ultimately transforming it into the higher 
through proper association and environment. ~No 
man is alone in the highest sense. It is wicked to 
speak of weakness when infinite strength is our in- 
heritance. The soul relates itself to the highest, and 
the highest, in turn, reacts on the soul. When the 
emotions of man cry out, their objects are attracted 
and manifest. This is particularly true concerning 
the highest ideals, the soul and Spirit. It is all 
in ratio to the depth of desire and the development 
of consciousness, also to the depth of character and 
to the quality and activity of character. Man should 
be taught and know that he is superior to these many 
limitations. He must know that, instead of being 
slave to nature, he is lord and master. Conscious- 
ness cannot be limited. That is sufficient knowledge 
and truth. With the unfoldment of that knowledge 
and truth, man grows out of the man into the super- 



Man and His Shadow. 91 

man ; from the superman he progresses into the nature 
of the godlike and the divine, and bjyond that, beyond 
and beyond into that glory and sublimity which more 
and more brings into light the true nature and essence 
of man, and that is "Existence Absolute, Knowledge 
Absolute, Bliss Absolute." 



STAGES OF PSYCHIC PKOGEESS. 



CHAPTER V. 

STAGES OF PSYCHIC PROGRESS. 

"Form, of itself is nothing. Character, mind, soul, 
mental tendencies and inequalities are of sole im- 
portance. All that survives bodily disintegration 
is character; and the sum-total of any character is 
the sum-total of the consciousness which has given it 
expression. The mental element alone endures. All 
the lower principles of man disintegrate. The body 
decays after the accomplishment of the purpose of its 
manifestation. The desire element, together with the 
lower mind, are subject to change. The life of man 
is formed of mental conditions, and all mental con- 
ditions are equal to so many states of consciousness. 
Mental states and state of consciousness being equal 
their claim to immortality are equal. At death 
the mental status passes into the psychic plane. 
The prevalent idea is that death makes an important 
change in personality. That idea comes through 
wrong interpretation of after-death states. Orthodox 
religions have for centuries encouraged the idea of 
heaven and hell. Expressed in other words, they say 
that death takes changing personality and forever 
determines its after-death expression. Anything that 
continually changes in expression cannot become 
changeless. This idea is as erroneous as the accepted 



96 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

idea of the origin of the soul. According to the ortho- 
dox conception, each soul has been specially created, 
that is, it had a beginning in time. It follows that 
each soul will have an end. But if the soul is above 
beginning and end, then only is it absolutely im- 
mortal ; it is eternal. Similarly, if the usually inter- 
preted idea of heaven and hell is illusionary, death 
finds the soul just as it was previous to death. Char- 
/ acter is the same immediately after death as before. 
It is in the-persistence of consciousness that similar- 
ity and identity continue after death. There are no 
abrupt dividing lines in nature. Everything proceeds 
in natural order. The transition of physical into 
subjective life is not a sudden break. It is consistent 
with the laws of nature. Death is as natural as birth. J 
Man comes into this world unconscious, he leaves it 
unconscious. When the final lease on life has ex- 
pired, the soul passes beyond in a comatose state. It 
awakens, sometimes aware of its condition and sur- 
roundings, sometimes not. If the spiritual faculties 
and intuitions are developed, the soul finds itself in 
the daylight of perception. If not, it is surrounded 
with the night of undeveloped perception. On the 
psychic plane consciousness manifests in the psychic 
order. The psychic order is more extensive than the 
physical, for it includes the latter. Those who have 
passed beyond still perceive the phenomena on the 
earth plane, just as the psychically evolved of the 
earth plane perceive conditions and phases of life on 
the psychic plane. The aim of psychic unfoldment is 
direct vision of truth. Spiritual unfoldment is the 



( 



Stages of Psychic Progress. 97 

evolution of consciousness from the plane of belief 
to the plane of knowledge. It is a state every soul 
must realize before it can truly say: "I have per- 
ceived the truth. I am one with the truth." As long 
as this unfoldment is potential, so long is truth 
only potential, and so long is the open vision closed. 
The soul must learn that the secret of knowledge is in 
the superior elements of its nature. The greatest 
service the soul can render itself is the transmission 
of spiritual knowledge in which the mystic name is 
communicated, in which the potential is manifested. 
This service was accorded the neophytes of old in 
sacred rites. It was the symbolism of Mithraic wor- 
ship, the symbolism of the Samothracian, Elusinian 
and Dodonian mysteries. This service is the full 
accomplishment of finite life, because it points to and 
finally reaches the goal of infinite life. It is the key 
to the mystic door of life and death, the significance 
and the explanation of the apparent perpetuity of the 
round of existences. It embodies severest discipline, 
deepest investigation, the most exalted of purposes, 
the finale of all effort. This service is work for the 
work's own sake. Passionless, patient, divine work 
is true work. When persons are enthusiatic and over- 
whelmed with emotion, much energy is misdirected 
and lost. The highest enthusiasm is loftiness and 
determination of purpose and is born of exalted ideas 
and sympathies. The motive principle of all work is 
sincerity of ideas and feelings. The highest ideal is 
knowingly or unknowingly the ideal of each and every 
soul. Self is the embodiment of all idealism. The 



98 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

sensitive soul is fully aware, however, that the ideal 
is far above rational consciousness. The mind, bur- 
dened with coarser material, cannot soar into the 
empyrean of ideals. 

All ideals, converge to one point. Unity is the soul 
of variety. From unity all things proceed ; into unity_ 
all things ultimately merge. The background of all 
separate ideals is the supreme ideal, and that 
supreme ideal is Self. This means that the ideal of 
all is one, having the same origin and the same goal 
of realization. When work is performed through 
desire to benefit, the benefit will come. If the soul 
relates itself to higher lives, it partakes of such 
union. If one worships, the True, the Good and the 
Beautiful, he gains in ratio to the strength and the 
lasting qualities of the motive principles which in- 
spire worship. But all this worship and effort of 
realizing lower ideals is vain in the light of the 
supreme ideal which can alone inspire the soul with 
true bliss. Philosophy, in its continuing develop- 
ment, has risen from primitive conceptions of many 
and varied ideals to the all-embraciveness of one ideal. 
That ideal has been variously named and variously 
appropriated. Different values have been placed on 
ideals as different phases of philosophy drew different 
ideals from the spiritual storehouse. Now this value 
has been superposed, now that. The ideal formerly 
cherished gives way to better and later conception. 
In its highest flights the mind discovers that all ideals 
are only variations of one ideal; that one ideal em- 
braces and explains all others. 



Stages of Psychic Progress. 99 

The lower mind can never express the higher mind 
because, if such could be, the higher would come to 
the level of the lower, for things of equal character 
and import are expressed on the same plane of mani- 
festation. The supreme ideal can never be brought 
to the plane of the merely rational. Reason 
has its value, but not in proportion to the spir- 
itual object of reason. Before the mind can reach 
within its depths and perceive truth it must be in- 
spired by the highest of ideals, otherwise its work is 
relative and its gain will be relative. The idea is to 
transcend this relativlly, to go direct to the meaning 
and light and life of all relativity, and that life and 
light and meaning can be had only by converting 
lower principles into their co-ordinating position so 
that their relative value is estimated. Separately 
taken, lower ideals can realize only the lower, and 
the lower shifts from the lower to the lower. It is a 
circle, and the circle is continuously expressing the 
nature of the circle and of the phenomenal. The 
inner value must be sought and adjusted to the intel- 
lect and consciousness. That is the real, passionless, 
pure, work which leads the soul to Self. 

The mind, to be single and simple, must become ad- 
justed to the highest wave-form. It must think of* 
one idea and desire the attainment of one specific 
ideal. The surface expression of the mind is indef- 
inite in variety, complex in nature, uneven in char- 
acter, uncontrolled in disposition, and influenced by 
fluctuations of desire. Thus the voice of the passion- 
less, supereminent Self is not quickly heard. To 



100 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

center the mind and bring it under control of the 
soul, the latter must be inspired by spiritual insight 
and intelligence. Variety and unevenness of the 
mind is the source of unevenness of impulse and con- 
duct. Everything is the result of mind, everything 

/ the result of what we have thought, and what we will 
be is determined by the result of what we shall in the 
future think. Over the future we have perfect control, 
apart from the momentum of past influences. But 

/ will is superior to the binding force of all influence. 
Indeed, it is the will which controls the binding force 
of past deeds. Just as the will has imparted its 
strength to past acts, thus giving them form and char- 
acter , so the will can dispose of that strength by 
changing its current of expression. The will has 
made the soul what it is. The will is the condensa- 
tion and the specialization of the activity of con- 
sciousness into a given direction and area of pp*pose. 
There are various stages in the evolution of the will 
and in the attainment of singleness and simplicity of 
mind. There are various stages in the accomplish- 
ment of harmonious activity of the mind. The lofti- 
est height cannot be climbed in a single effort. It 
takes many efforts, but each ascent affords a new and 
more general view. Each effort enlarges the per- 
spective of the soul. The first of these developing 
stages is the satisfaction with regard to the existence 
of truth and the reality of the soul. Much is gained 
when the questionings of the mind have been silenced, 
when all doubts have vanished and the soul is estab- 
lished in its own light. Those things which come 



Stages of Psychic Progress. 101 

under immediate sense perception we choose to call 
real. In the first stage of psychic tmfoldment there 
is the actual sight, the actual hearing and actual feel- 
ing of supersensuous and superconscious realities. 
Peace, too, has taken its abode within the soul. The 
argumentative stage has vanished and spiritual qui- 
escense possesses the soul. E"o more reasoning now. 
The time has come for knowledge beyond reason. 
The soul has passed beyond the surface truth into full 
consciousness of realities that make belief worthy. 
When this first stage is reached the soul knows that 
the spiritual sun has risen and that the horizon of 
vision shall be increased by its gradual course. 
The second of these transcendent stages is that 
anything of a painful nature has lost its influ- 
ence. Pain comes through the association and iden- 
tification of the mind with the body. When the 
mind is abstracted from the body, by reason of intense 
interest or concentration, the body may be pricked 
with a needle and no sensation of pain follows. In 
concentration on higher orders of thought, expressing 
control and adjustment of physical and mental in- 
harmonies, the mind becomes indifferent to what may 
befall the physical. Truth has taken its abode in the 
body, and the vibrations of the physical harmonize 
with the vibrations of the spiritual. Spiritual vibra- 
tions have sanative values. Being in accordance with 
the highest interpretation of universal law their in- 
fluence is highly beneficial. The superior influence 
and conditions of the spiritual control the inequali- 
ties of bodily motions. This is manifest in Christian 



102 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

Science, New Thought and in the Emanuel Move- 
ment. The psychological character of this influence 
is shown in the case of hypnotized persons diagnosing 
their diseases, and prescribing remedies. In hypnosis, 
the patient is brought to a consciousness of inner 
mental and bodily states through external suggestion. 
In spiritual unfoldment this introspection comes with 
advanced stages of individual control. 

The third stage in rendering the mind simple and 
single exists when it has recourse to the infinite energy 
and knowledge at its disposal, and is thus exalted 
above ordinary human nature. Ordinarily, man re- 
ceives knowledge through external investigation. In 
the stages of psychic control, there is no longer need 
for external investigation. There is but one fact 
necessary to investigate, the mind itself. 

In the lowest physical arrangement the instinctive, 
the conscious, the self-conscious, the mentality are 
only potential, but they are nevertheless existential. 
The divine is within everything. Omniscience re- 
sides in everything. These manifest, but the mani- 
festation is gradual in development. The spiritually 
developed have a mental consciousness of objects, 
whereas the average person has only a physical con- 
sciousness of them. As the soul grows apart from the 
physical it perceives the mental element of phenom- 
ena. I know a thing only when I have certain mental 
states concerning it. I know its qualities, and knowl- 
edge of qualities is purely mental. What, in fact, 
does the soul know of nature, as such ? Only its own 
mental consciousness. Instead of allowing an object 



Stages of Psychic Progress. 103 

to stimulate mental consciouness through the me- 
dium of the physical, consciousness may approach 
its mental phases. Instead of being passive to 
the influence of external vibrations, the mind may 
become positive, and in this positiveness the con- 
sciousness of the object, its mental meaning and sym- 
bolism are perceived without the medium of the phys- 
ical. The mind knows a thing only when it has con- 
sciousness of its qualities. This consciousness is alone 
true. It is alone the meaning, the existence of the 
object, so far as the soul is concerned. Consciousness 
is informed of the qualities of an object through the 
activity of the nerve system. But the soul, above this 
universe of time, space and causation, is not limited 
to any separate portion of it or to only one medium of 
experience. The plane of the physical is not the 
boundary of the activity of the soul. The soul has 
no boundary. Why should it be limited to but one 
mode of perception? Why should this soul, which 
has manufactured this body and nerve system, be 
solely dependent on them for its relation to physical 
vibrations % All physical vibrations have their 
ethereal, astral and mental counterparts. Why con- 
fine the attention of the mind to but one phase of this 
quadruple character of objective existence ? Psychic 
unfoldment brings the mind into cognizance of many 
things to which ordinary vision is blind. It teaches 
that this immense universe is only mental. For, out- 
side of the reflex activity of the mind to outer im- 
pulse, nothing concerning the universe is known. 
Something arouses the activity of the mind and 



104 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

in this activity the mental consciousness of objective 
life is born. Busied with this reflex activity of the 
mind, the soul forgets its many other potential phases 
of activity. Men constantly limit their vision. It is 
we who have builded these bodies. How could it be 
otherwise % We control the voluntary muscles of the 
body. The mind has influence not only over the 
voluntary muscles and vibrations, but also over the 
involuntary muscles. The involuntary muscles and 
vibrations were previously under conscious direction ; 
through habit they have become self -active and self- 
regulative. Nature is wasteful of no activity and 
therefore does not associate conscious activity over 
muscles and vibrations self-regulated, self-moving and 
self-controlled. Phases of consciousness, previously 
adapted to the control of involuntary muscles, now 
control voluntary muscles. 

With the evolution of psychic faculties, the scope 
of perception will be immeasurably increased. The 
psychic sight can be used, and its vision is penetrat- 
ing, and true. But as long as man is on the earth 
plane he must follow the law of the earth plane. It 
does not, however, hinder development of psychic 
sight, for psychic sight is not distinct from normal 
sight; it is simply the evolution and perfection of 
normal sight. The adept can, whenever he chooses, 
employ the psychic senses in better discrimination of 
physical relationships. The interests of the adept are 
purely spiritual, and his mental and psychical activi- 
ties in keeping with the exalted character of his pur- 
pose. That purpose is not the display of power or 



Stages of Psychic Progress. 105 

the working of miracles, but realization of Self- 
knowledge and Self-consciousness. Psychic activity 
is of no more miraculous an order, or of mysterious 
origin than the activity of the physical. The only 
marvelousness is the marvelousness of soul. The 
second stage is the education of the lower principles, 
for then they are controlled, perfectly developed, and 
perfectly expressed. The third is the ultimate per- 
fection of this advanced evolution. Physical control 
is achieved; the mentality is passive to the whisper- 
ings of the intuitive and is spiritually related to omnis- 
cience. Intellectual assent and dissent are substituted 
by perfect perception. Objects are no longer investi- 
gated. Their mental and psychic essences are under- 
stood by the mind, now resident and active on the 
higher planes. The soul approximates the plane of 
true individuality. This is the natural state of the 
truly spiritually evolved. 

Whatever the mind approaches, with that it be- 
comes identified. The mind penetrates its surface 
and beneath the surface into its very depths, and 
therein finds its universe. It discovers that all mental 
conditions are variations of the same mental sub- 
stance, that manifoldness has orgin in the motions 
of one ultimate force. Through this discrimination 
the perception of ultimate mental unity develops. 
Even as varied states of mind are controlled, so the 
motions of the mental substance itself can be con- 
trolled. The soul commences to realize that the men- 
tal substance is the foundation of the activity of the 
mind, that all perception has its expression in and 



106 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

through the motions of one condition. Explicitly 
stated, all phenomena have their origin in the mind, 
for perception is existentially an expression of con- 
sciousness. Clothed with mind, consciousness identi- 
fies itself with mind. It considers mind substance 
its essence when the mind is far from so being. 
Through this mode of investigation, the soul comes 
to the knowledge that it is free from the bond- 
age of the mind ; that it is self expressive ; that con- 
sciousness is its essence and not the essence of the 
mind; for all mental states are of the primal sub- 
stance. The mind, in seeking to control this sub- 
stance, becomes the lord of its desires and their ex- 
pression. Desires are normally formed through in- 
stinctive activity and are tributary to the mind. The 
mind, slave to desires, is incapable of formulating 
them for its best welfare, because past conditions and 
impressions cause it to flow into one specific mode. 
When the soul learns that all variations are in them- 
selves nothing, and that the true binding force is 
existential bondage of mind, it will place value and 
character only on the fundamental substance of the 
mind. The control of this substance will come ; when 
that comes all relativity vanishes. The soul comes 
into its own. It realizes Self. It understands that 
it alone is the true, it alone the beautiful, it alone 
the good. It will know that all else is falseness, that 
all else is illusion, that all else is ignorance. This 
state is the fourth state of spiritual attainment and 
is the supreme result of spiritual effort. Beyond 
this it is impossible to go. Infinity is beyond and 



Stages of Psychic Progress. 107 

through all things, and this infinity of consciousness 
and of knowledge is reached when the soul throws 
off all mental shackles, when it unearths and destroys 
the very foundation of the mind. 

The mind is the sustaining element in all this 
illusion and indefinite series of birth and death. 
To it all the convolutions of relativity are to be as- 
cribed. To it are tributary all conditioned existence, 
all imperfection of manifestation, all exteriorisation 
of the soul, all apparent manifoldness, all lowness 
and all highness, all good and all evil, all light and 
all darkness. Beyond the mind is the eternal, un- 
changing and unchangeable essence of the soul. Be- 
yond all this is the ever free, the everlasting, un- 
qualified and unqualifying Self. It is the reality, 
the ever-knowing, the essence of bliss, the essence 
of truth, the essence of life and light. 

Perception of unassisted reason is confined with- 
in the limitations of sensuous existence. Mind, 
of itself, cannot even explain mind. Its lower phases 
are warped in the shadows of material density. They 
act on planes of inferior expression, conditioning in- 
ferior expression of character. Their power of re- 
sistance to lower vibrations is weak. That is why the 
mental is largely expressed through physical inter- 
relations. That is why the mind is related with the 
coarse movements of physical influences. There is 
no hope for the mind but in introspection. Intro- 
spection is the secret of this profound control of 
mind and body advancement, enlightment, inspira- 
tion, nameless width of consciousness and height of 



108 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

Self-realization. By giving up phenomenal reality of 
mind, the soul is omniscient. By giving up finite 
existence, it becomes omniexistent. By relinquishing 
the things which seem, it realizes the things which 
are, and these things confirm the soul in that incon- 
ceivable peace of which it is written : "Beyond name 
and beyond form, beyond conception and beyond life 
and death am I. For I am Memnon. For I am 
Memnon. I am He that calleth upon the Dawn. 
Peace. Peace. Peace." 

From the fourth the soul proceeds to the fifth stage 
of spiritual progress. The fifth stage is freedom 
from all impediments, all vacillations of the mind, all 
mental struggles and difficulties. As the mental is 
in final control of physical expression this stage also 
implies that the soul is free from physical inequali- 
ties. It is above pain and danger. Mental and 
physical vibrations now move in rhythm; there is 
nothing discordant, nothing eccentric, nothing contra- 
vibrant. All the motions of the mind and of the 
body labor for the best possible expression of the 
entire personality. When such personalities come 
into the world, they embody the perfection of psychic 
control and spiritual harmony. 

The soul is limited only as its understanding is 
limited. It falls prey to various influences only as 
its imperfect development renders it inappreciative 
of the working factors of different inharmonies, only 
as it is incapable of regulating itself to the currents 
of respective vibrations. When it comes into knowl- 
edge of truth, it is free; when it appreciates things 



Stages of Psychic Progress. 109 

at their true value, it can regulate their course of 
expression. That gives freedom from harmful in- 
fluences and changes the useless into the serviceable. 
That is the aim of psychic control, the perfect adapta- 
tion of influences to individual need. Pain can only 
enne through ignorance, for they are co-existent. 
Ignorance is the mother of all the shadows of life, all j 
its vagaries and sorrows. Ignorance is the curse 
which can alone affect the soul, because the soul 
draws the veil of material darkness before Self. j 
With the development of knowledge and its practical 
relation to exigencies of the soul, all ignorance dis- 
appears. Experience is for the aggrandizement of 
knowledge. Knowledge is serviceable only as it widens 
the emotional and sympathetic area. There is no 
better way of gaining health than in wishing health 
to others. There is no better way of becoming quiet 
than in wishing peace to others. What we give, we 
keep. What we hold fast, we lose. This paradox 
finds its truth in the fact that all things move in 
circles. What has a beginning returns to that be- 
ginning. It radiates its influence and then returns 
to the source. The source is the mind. The mind 
radiates peace, strength, joy to all life, and the 
response is according. The calm with which the 
mind sends the thought of calm into the universe, 
returns with added force and influence. This is the 
manner of harmonizing personal vibrations. The 
effort proceeds from the personality ; the result of the 
effort returns to the personality. For this reason 
many of the world's sages have daily repeated: 



110 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

"Peace be unto all things. Let all beings be happy ; 
let all beings be peacfu] ; let all beings be blissful." 
In saying this they turn to the four quarters of 
space. The influence of their holy desire is sent forth 
to all the planes of being and into all the different 
phases of life. 

The sixth accomplishment of psychic effort is deep- 
est penetration into the nature of the mind. All 
other accomplishments are less and have served only 
as leading to this supreme attainment. The mind is 
solvable into its casual elements; the instrument 
through which consciousness expresses itself is capa- 
ble of a disintegration. The mind has been the lamp 
apportioning the light of consciousness and reflecting 
its rays in the world of phenomena. The mind has 
been the conditioning factor through which objective 
life manifested. When the mind returns to its causal 
nature, all manifested life vanishes. The mind is 
the highest conduit for the manifestation of the soul. 
Yet the mind is formed out of the universal material 
constituting the background of all phenomena. The 
only difference is that the mind, composed of rarest 
conceivable material particles, is more durable than 
mightiest physical aggregations. The body is subject 
to destruction at each passing of the soul from life 
to life, but the mind is not. It changes and changes, 
and the various changes which it experiences reha 
bilitates its essence and activity so that it is not 
destroyed when the body is destroyed. The same 

(mind substance accompanies the soul through its 
many lives. The truth concerning the mind is easily 



Stages of Psychic Progress. Ill 

perceived when the soul realizes that the mind is not 
consciousness. That is the elementary fact in the 
education of psychic consciousness. Without it no 
great achievement is possible. Consciousness has rid 
itself of the notion that it is the body; it has also 
rid itself of the idea that it is the desire element. 
It is more difficult for consciousness to rid itself of 
the notion that it is not the mind, for consciousness 
is absorbed in mental activity. It requires deep philo- 
sophical concentration, deep psychic introspection, to 
arrive at a contrary understanding. Consciousness, 
in its final meaning, cannot be identified with the 
states of relative existence. The nature of conscious- 
ness is immeasurably superior to the nature of the 
mind. Just as the Infinite Being is none of the 
single states of relative mind, so no indefinite aggre- 
gation of such states could complete His infinite con- 
sciousness. The purpose of psychic effort is to know 
that the soul has nothing to do with these little claims 
of relative life. It is above them. To identify con- 
sciousness with separate mental states would mean 
that consciousness is on their level, that it is existen- 
tially imperfect and that is the greatest of untruths. 
At the bottom of this relative life stands the mind. 
By the mind is meant not only that relative mind 
which constitutes the working factor of normal brain 
consciousness, but also that indefiniteness of mental 
existence beyond and beneath normal brain conscious- 
ness. There are also those numberless phases of mind 
which give the necessary stimulus to the totality of 
potential existence reaching beyond this present mani- 



112 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

festation into other manifestations beneath the sur- 
face and beyond any memory of the present. Even 
as the individual is working through the body, even 
as he digests his food, pumps the blood through the 
circulatory system and works the respiratory and 
other functional systems, even as he controls all the 
voluntary movements of the body, so the individual 
is also the author and dispenser of his mental ex- 
pression. Some speak of nature, but nature is a far- 
fetched word. One thing is certain; the mind has 
an all-potent influence on the body ; consciousness in- 
fluences the body. The mind may disturb the di- 
gestive system; it may even shatter the brain and 
kill the body. Mind-power is the radiation of the 
most forcibly expressive substance in the universe 
and mind is the instrument of consciousness. It is 
consciousness which, through aeons of evolutionary 
progression, has built up this body and this bundle 
of nerves. It is consciousness which has built up this 
mind, allowing it fulness and variety of expression. 
In the beginning the mental substance existed in an 
homogenous manner. Each individual soul has ab- 
sorbed its respective portion of this substance, and 
in this absorption the homogenous mental substance 
became heterogenous. The mind is of itself non- 
existent. Its phenomenal existence is due to the con- 
ditioning of consciousness. Consciousness, as it were, 
externalizes itself. Through this externalisation the 
phenomenal world is born. As consciousness is ever 
free and unconditioned, so the separate expressions 
of consciousness enjoy a nominal independence from 



Stages of Psychic Progress. 113 

other portions of consciousness and from the entirety 
of consciousness as such. But this independence is 
only seeming. When the mind finally understands 
that there is something superior to mind to which it 
is tributary, all these separate states lose their ap- 
parent individuality, fading into the unencompassable 
and all-containing fulness of everlasting conscious- 
ness. 

The mind is the instrument of all mental expres- 
sion. It is the source of language and of thought. 
Yet each and every object, each and every thought, 
each and every mental expression, besides its mental 
meaning possesses a value in consciousness. This is 
what is meant in the statement that the soul is the 
essence of knowledge. The soul does not think. 
When it has attained to realization, it knows that it 
is the essence of thought. Being the essence of 
thought, it is equally the undivided essence of all 
things which come under the investigation of thought, 
and that is this entire universe. This thought leads 
to seventh and final and highest phase of psychic 
effort. 

Glory and power to him who is master of his 
nature, who is master of his mind, who is the master 
of the Law. Peace to him who has come out of the 
nature of man and in and out of the nature of the 
god into the consciousness of universal life and light. 
Such is the inconceivable state of the world-honored 
ones. They who have passed into and beyond Self 
are in essence nameless, blessed and formless. All 
this psychic effort has been for the purpose of show- 



114 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

ing the soul its true nature. Nature has taught that 
body is not soul, that mind is not soul and that alone 
is soul which gives character and life and meaning 
to relative life. Nature has taught that thought is 
matter, that everything from thought down is con- 
ditioned. He who has seen the truth is free. He 
who has realized truth, is blessed. He who merges 
his nature into the nature of truth, is the truth, the 
way and the life. The goal of life is eternal life ; the 
result of all effort, the fruition of eternal peace and 
bliss. Beyond all relativity, beyond the largest and 
the smallest, consciousness is transcendent. It no 
longer identifies itself with mind or body. It is 
alone concerned with the enjoyment of eternal beati- 
tude. But this beatitude must not be construed as 
being the reward of finite effort. That is impossible. 
There is no eternal heaven for temporal effort. The 
soul is only relatively free, even in the abodes of 
merit whither the disincarnate go. The heavens of 
merit are passing. The Christ said: "Heaven and 
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass 
away." Truth is unchangeable and everlasting. 
Truth must flood the soul with its all-saving power 
before the soul can call itself divine. Science and 
reason have corrected endless errors in sense per- 
ception. Unassisted by the light of science, men 
would still be calling the earth flat, the moon self- 
luminating, the sky a solid vault, the stars, small 
points of light. The mind, to accomplish the best 
results and to understand the nature of the senses, 
should concentrate upon these errors, for thereby a 



Stages of Psychic Progress. 115 

proper value of sense life is had. "A wise man sees 
so many false things in those which are called true; 
so many disgusting things in those which are called 
pleasant ; and so much misery in what is called happi- 
ness, that he turns away with disgust." In the high- 
est of positions, in the most exalted phases of being, 
the soul sees nothing but transiency and misery. 
Misery is the shadow which pursues pleasure. Pleas- 
ure is ephemeral and desire is ever born anew. 
Nothing , indeed, can satisfy the everlasting soul but 
the revelation of its own nature. The soul goes 
through all the infinite variations of relative life in 
its search after happiness and realizes that happiness 
is not to be found anywhere save in its innermost 
nature. Desire is expressed in, "May this be mine" 
in, "May I not be this." In this expression the mind 
is enslaved. The soul is essentially above all wants. 
It is self-sufficient because it is all-pervading and 
all- containing. The soul does not cry for anything. 
Being all in all it wishes nothing of separate char- 
acter or condition. To rid itself of these vagaries, 
these airy nothings of the senses, the soul must apply 
the method of discrimination. Then it knows that it 
is existentially different from the objects of the senses 
and that it is their conditioning factor. In all the 
categories of sensuous existence the soul realizes that 
Spirit, the soul of the soul, is not to be classified. The 
soul, entranced by the vision of Self, can say, "This is 
Spirit." Otherwise it cannot say that anything is 
Spirit, for Spirit is above all finite things. In realiz- 
ation the soul knows : "I am that which manifests the 



116 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

operations of the understanding. I am the eye-wit- 
ness of the understanding. Yet am I different from 
the understanding. I am the all-pervading. I am the 
unchangeable. I am the ever-living." 

There are many ways of conceiving the conditions 
of the finite in its relations to the Infinite and the 
relations of the Infinite to the finite. One of the most 
lucid interpretations is the symbolism of the jar. 
The jar of the soul has form through Spirit which 
faces to all the quarters of space. The vacuum in the 
jar is the vacuum of Spirit. Truly the relations be- 
tween Spirit and the universe are subtile. The source 
and the sustaining element of the jar is Spirit. At 
dissolution the jar resolves into its causal elements. 
Thus the abiding and ultimate reality of sub- 
stance is Spirit. As the spider weaves its web from 
the very substance of its body, so Spirit, from Its 
own substance, has spun this universe. "In Him 
we live and move and have our being." Spirit of 
itself neither moves nor changes. All these external 
motions, so seemingly real, come under the heading 
of the operations of the understanding. Reality im- 
plies unchangeableness. This cannot be said of the 
world of phenomena. Consequently the soul alone is 
to be meditated upon, its realization to be desired, 
its light alone to shine forth. "He shining, every- 
thing else shines." 

In separation is misery; in separation, separate 
existence. The identification of soul with the various 
adjectives of relative manifestation is the cause of 
bondage. Such adjectives are expressive of joy, grief, 



Stages of Psychic Progress. 117 

anger, desire, infatuation, inebriation, envy, self-im- 
portance, covetousness, sleep, indolence, Inst and other 
passions. As stated in the Sankhya Sara, Sec. 9, 
soul must affirm: "I am all-pervading, pacific, the 
total of pure spirit, pure, the inconceivable, simple 
life, pure vacuum, undecayable, unmixed, boundless, 
without qualities, untroubled, unchangeable, the mir- 
ror in which all is seen, and through my union to all 
souls, the displayer of all things. Not being different 
in nature, I am every living creature, from Brahma, 
Vishnu, and Maheswara, down to inanimate matter. 
I and all living creatures are one (in essence) ; like the 
vacuum we are life ; therefore we are taught to medi- 
tate on spirit as one." All these qualities of Spirit 
have each a boundless significance. The qualities in 
the operations of the understanding also have their 
appropriate significance, for herein are expressed the 
wide latitudes extant between the man of attainment 
and the man of illusion. Equality, misapplied in the 
realm of politics and philosophy, has meaning when 
ascribed to the essence of Spirit, one and all-uniting. 
In the recognition of spiritual inequality a large per 
cent, of the mind's vain operations are to be classified. 
It is the nature of the mind to struggle to reach a 
level beyond it and this is the origin of ambition. 
Spirit is neither high nor low. There is but One 
Who is high. In ambition discord is born and 
discord breeds eccentricity of emotions constituting 
the immoral. The thought of spiritual unity and 
equality instils a transcendent love for all mani- 
festations of Spirit, for the entire universe. The 



118 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

most miserable and the seemingly most unworthy are 
folded close beneath the soft wings of the divine 
motherhood of Spirit. The innumerable variations 
of social life are nothingnesses in the supreme vision 
of Spirit. They are vacuum-formed and vacuum- 
lived. They are like shadows on the crystal sea of 
existence, which does not in essence change, though 
the shadows are numberless and prodigious. The 
understanding, with its operations, is as a dancer 
changing her appearance, costume and pantomime 
with each shade of technique. The understanding, 
simple in essence and activity, loses its simplicity, be- 
coming complex through association and identification 
with physical, mental and psychic life. To return 
to that pristine simplicity to and the pure existence of 
Spirit is the task which lies before each soul. The 
mighty, unbroken flow of consciousness must stream 
through all the obstacles of material and mental 
existence into the depths of universal knowledge, 
existence and beatitude. The actor assumes various 
animal skins, impersonating the habits and instincts 
of different animals. It is an impersonation. The 
understanding adopts all these various impersona- 
tions, and it is these impersonations which qualify the 
soul in the belief of manifold existence. 

The existential features of Spirit are eternality, 
intelligence and happiness. These are the character- 
istics of truth and reality. They are expressive of 
the unconditioned, of the absolute, of the free and of 
the infinite. The soul has been proceeding forward 
and forward into manifestation. It is time to recede. 



Stages of Psychic Progress. 119 

Before it is nothing but the desert of opinion, the 
desert of change, the desert of desire, the desert of 
sorrow. Before it is the wilderness of complexity, of 
quality, of mirages. Falsehood and hypocrisy have 
lighted their lamps and claim self -illumination. They 
are the ignis fatuus which lights the way of the 
foolish and ignorant. The source of true light is the 
source of truth itself, the essence of truth, the glory 
of truth, the all-encompassing beauty, sublimity, om- 
niscience and omnipotence of truth. 

That which in its very nature is illusory, cannot 
be called real. It cannot be said that illusion is either 
real or unreal. Ileal it is in a phenomenal sense. 
Beyond phenomena, it is essentially unreal. There- 
fore we can say neither aye nor nay. When one comes 
into the light and into the truth, the darkness of 
ignorance is scattered, the radiant sun of truth shines, 
the day of understanding and of direct perception 
has dawned. He no longer is bound. He is free. 
Freedom is now his nature. He is all-knowing. Om- 
niscience is now his nature. He is perfect. Perfec- 
tion is the essence of divinity, and the soul is divine. 
When truth shines forth, error has taken flight. 
Relative truth is to ignorance as a brilliant light is 
to a waste of darkness. But all-containing truth is 
like a sea of light, and beyond that sea is nothing, 
for the sea is present in every shade and phase, — an 
ocean of universal light. The mental spectrum is a 
bright and clear mirror on which all knowledge is re- 
flected according to the will and the disposition of the 
soul. Illusion and wisdom may be compared to the 



120 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

blindness of some animals. Take, for exampie, the 
owl. In the glory of the sunlight the owl is blind. 
To the owl, the light of day is darkness. The night, 
the darkness, is its condition of sight. Similarly 
many see only in the night of ignorance and super- 
stition and are blind in the very presence of all radi- 
ant light. Our birth-right is the upper world, the 
world which is the reality of all worlds, the world of 
the day, the world of intelligence. As long as men 
sojourn in the midst of darkness and in this vale of 
tears they cannot expect any glimpse of truth beyond 
the outermost phases of this condition. Selfishness 
and ignorance are co-existent. The one is comple- 
ment to the other. Ignorance gives so much import- 
ance to this fleeting ego which constantly repeats : "I 
am small. I am sick. I am weak. I am conditioned. 
I am great. I am happy. I am this or I am that." 
The condition of this illusion is oneness. Differen- 
tiated and individualized it appears as many, resem- 
bling the one sun mirrored as many in various pools 
of water. Universalized, this illusion is the potential 
and active energy of the Supreme. Individualized, 
this illusion is the potential and active energy of the 
individual souls. The state of activity is ever the state 
of imperfection, finiteness, instability and uneven- 
ness. The state of potentiality, is the condition of 
the highest power, truth and intelligence. To bring 
this state of activity into a condition of silence, bring 
this ever-chagning state into a state of immutability, 
this discordance into a condition of perpetual har- 
mony, is the business of life. No matter if we fail 



Stages of Psychic Progress. 121 

in this particular life. The ideal may be realized 
in another life. Progression is in never looking too 
far ahead, nor behind. 

The very end and aim of psychic effort is the plac- 
ing of full importance where it is needed. The full 
importance of mental states must be realized. That 
is the secret of all this bodily and mental activity. It 
is not alone the secret of these things, but of all the 
phenomena in the universe. Knowing one piece of 
clay, the entire nature of clay is known. Acquainted 
with the qualities of the mind, we know the mind 
itself ; in other words, we become knowers of this uni- 
verse. All is the variation of one mind-substance. 
Gaining control of this is gaining control of the entire 
personality. In the midst of ignorance, the soul, 
blessed with realization, shines forth. Yet there are 
few who appreciate the light of the Perfect Ones. , ; 

Clothed with physical vesture, men are incapable of 
discerning the hidden power and bliss, knowledge 
and divine essence of Him who has entered into the 
innermost sanctuary of his nature, who has reached 
through and through himself and found in the veriest 
depths of his own soul that light and life which he 
exteriorised and worshipped as God. There is no 
God but He Who is the real essence of man; no 
divine essence, but the divine essence of the soul of 
man. No worship is to be paid except to him who 
is the Self of the self of man. Disbelief in God is 
not so bad as disbelief in one's self. Man can believe 
in God only by first believing in himself. Belief in 
the sanctity, the divinity, the immortality of its 



122 Stages of Psychic Progress. 

nature, will exalt the soul. Spirit becomes meaning- 
ful and transcendent in the light of true self-appre- 
ciation. 

Without the complete renovation of antiquated 
ideas concerning the nature of mind, without giving 
up the old and inconsequential idea of the influence 
and form of thought, we can never hope to get much 
beyond the exterior perception with which the mind 
is normally concerned. It is well enough to adapt the 
mind to symbols, but deeper than symbolism and its 
effect on the imaginative and emotional faculties is 
the conscious perception of truth and its effect of 
calm and peace, self-conquest and control, psychic 
knowledge and power on the soul. The pathway to 
the Ideal leads beyond the Ideal into realism of mar- 
velous unfoldment, and beyond this, into the very 
constituencies of soul, its mystery and the solution 
of its mystery. 



PHYSICAL RELATIONS. 



CHAPTER VI. 



PHYSICAL RELATIONS. 



In the contemplation of physical unfoldment, the 
mind is awe-struck with the solemnity of existence. 
There is nothing but life, life infinite and eternal, 
endless, nameless and unspeakable, and these innu- 
merable lives are but variations of that infinite life 
which stands back of every separate life as its vivify- 
ing center and sustaining source. All are as wavelets 
in the vast, unindividualized, impersonal ocean of 
existence. The universal, all-pervading life has its 
first individualization in the manifestation of un- 
thinkable numbers of individual particles, projections 
of its substance, the essence of light and heat. These 
partializations are the supplying source of atomic and 
molecular life. These are the real builders of the 
universe, supplying the composing substance through 
which form takes expression. All life, all manifesta- 
tion, from the largest sun to the minutest atom, has 
its "soul" in the soul of all material substrate, the 
vivifying central life. In a physical sense, the great 
condensations of matter, as suns, are absorbing more 
of this central life than other bodies. Then, too, 
more of those "fiery" lives, the first differentiation of 
homogenous substance, are acting upon these vast 
bodies, giving them radiance, brilliance and stupen- 



126 Physical Eelations. 

dousness of form. Each physical form or condition 
has its peculiar method of absorbing this central life. 
The vast bodies obtain their sustenance and abiding 
power from the "fiery" lives direct. The subordinate 
bodies, which these larger bodies rule, obtain their 
formation by severance from the larger bodies. Then 
these subordinate bodies exteriorize their potential 
vitality, and undifferentiated vitality commences dif- 
ferentiating itself, continues and continues. Again, 
the differentiated particles continue to distribute 
themselves becoming ancestors to other differentiated 
particles. This condition endures and endures until 
the vitality has spent its last manifesting force. 
There, then, commences the re-absorption of all this 
force, the disintegration of evolution. The differen- 
tiated becomes gradually less and less differentiated, 
continuing and continuing until the absolutely homo- 
genous, from which all differentiation was specialized, 
is reached. It is the beginning, the drawing and the 
closing of the circle, composed of numberless smaller 
circles, all revolving within the major circle. This 
is the story of manifestation of terrestrial life. In 
this differentiation is included the manifestation of 
form, human, animal, vegetal, mineral, and chem- 
ical. All proceed from the evolution of a severed 
portion of a sun. This severance is brought about by 
the over-crowded activity of too many "fiery" lives. 
The heat they impart, by the centripetal and centrif- 
ugal process, reaches a definite point of condensation, 
when the aggregated mass can no longer hold together 
its constituent parts, and a portion or portions fall 



Physical Eelations. 127 

asunder, giving birth to worlds which come under its 
province of heat, motion and light. That is the story 
of the solar system. 

This departure from the study of sense perception 
is necessary, in order to show the freedom of soul 
from bondage of matter, and to show the non-existence 
of matter, a truth which bears direct and important 
relation to sense perception, because it tells what all 
this which the senses perceive is — nothing. If the 
senses perceive anything in the outer arrangement it 
can be life and life only. All individualizations of 
matter are projections of intelligence and life. What 
we believe to be the sun is the exteriorization of the 
substance of a supreme being, an archangel, one of the 
great Lords of Life. All these stars and suns, all 
these solar bodies are cosmic intelligences who have 
dominion over subordinate planets and impart life 
and light to them. The earth is a spirit from whose 
soul substance all the lives on earth proceed. But 
this is going beyond the immediate phase of this dis- 
cussion. 

All that the senses perceive is unreal. The ques- 
tion arises, what, then, is this which falls within the 
area of perception ? It is a delusion. The question 
arises, how and why is this delusion ? That question 
is unanswerable. It is as impossible of analysis as 
Self. The only solution is that in the essence of the 
soul all externality lies, as the self-generated cause 
and effect. 

In all sense perception, there is an afferent and an 
efferent action. In this the nervous system is the 



128 Physical Relations. 

conditioning factor. I am looking at a painting. The 
outer stimuli are presented to the mind through 
the action of afferent nerves. The sensory nerves 
carry the image to the brain and in the reac- 
tion of the brain, it is held, the painting has origin. 
There is no painting on the wall. All that we 
know of the external condition is what our sensa- 
tions tell us, and our sensations are internal and have 
a mental connection. In spiritual philosophy, this 
universe is in the mind. There are, of course, certain 
laws which cause the mind to receive any number of 
specialized sensations in a special order. Not alone 
that, but these specialized sensations are specialized 
and perceived by a number of intelligences in the 
same order. Now, how is this? This law which 
particularizes sensations so that they are carried to a 
number of minds in the same order is conditioned by 
what are called "planes of being." Planes of being 
are certain states of consciousness of a special varia- 
bleness through which sensations are received in same- 
ness and unity of order. Still there is a certain vari- 
ableness which allows the conditioned in any special 
state to receive sensations in a particular degree of 
intensity, some feeling them more than others, some 
getting more out of sensations than others. All be- 
ings resident on the same plane have similar cogni- 
zance of sensation. 

This order of sense perception is the dividing point 
between Self and the cosmos, Self and the physical. 
The mind, occupied with its own findings, pays at- 
tention to them, with the result that farther vision is 



Physical Eelations. 129 

excluded and it centralizes, enlarges and determines 
only one aspect of this universal variableness, the 
outer physical. There are states beyond the physical 
of which the mind is unaware, because of its blind- 
ness to aught save its particular physical vision. The 
mind must loosen this pronouncement of effort and 
vision, and allow it to turn into other channels of dis- 
cernment. The physical has its purpose and its value 
in the cosmic order, and in the relation of Self to the 
cosmic order. Yet it is not the all in all; it is not 
the only viewpoint of universal existence. The mind 
is always either undervaluing or overvaluing its re- 
lations to the external. The physical is indirectly 
bound to the soul ; it has a religious importance out- 
side of its own immediate sphere of activity, for body, 
mind, psychic nature and the soul are indistinguish- 
ably interrelated and co-operative in activity. They 
have an influence upon each other and, through each 
other, upon themselves. Everything in life is in- 
separably blended with everything. Everything is 
dependent upon everything. Everything is so consti- 
tuted as to have a gravitative direction and influence 
on everything else. This is relevant to everything in 
the physical arrangement. It is relevant to every- 
thing appertaining to the psychic order and the 
psychic spheres. Nothing in nature stands by itself. 
It exists only through an infinite contrast with all 
other phenomena. So it is with the attraction of 
body, soul and mind. During the early stages of de- 
velopment, the soul progresses only as the body is 
regulated under certain prescriptions. The body is 



130 Physical Relations. 

highly organized and possesses great influence over 
man's nature because all the energies and activities 
of the mind have unintermittently had the body as 
their field. This control on the part of the physical 
has to be substituted by mental control and psychic 
control. The initial step is to bring the body under 
the sway of the mind by regulating its desires and so 
bring the physical under the dominion of natural law. 
The idea is to make the body relatively independent 
by narrowing the range of its wants and necessities, 
Many of the so-called necessities of life are no neces- 
sities whatever. Compare the physical requirements 
of the savage with the requirements of civilized man. 
The simple life can never be a success unless the 
mind becomes more primitive in want and desire. 
The great teachers of psychic control were adepts in 
this revaluation of physical need. They did not in- 
hibit the functions of the body by inanition. They 
took no starvation course, but adapted themselves to 
the requirements of natural law as applied to the 
human body. They did not carry their obedience to 
natural harmony to the the point of indiscrimination 
or fanaticism. They were simply at oneness with 
nature. They knew the value of attending to bodily 
need. No true teacher will publicly teach the indis- 
criminate practice of celibacy or of long fasting or 
any of the many other forms of asceticism. These 
things are well enough for ascetics who have enough 
determination of will to overcome the body. To 
preach physical torture is to preach bodily and psychic 
insanity. Did the Christ preach and teach fanati- 



Physical Kelations. 131 

cism to the public? He did preach what might be 
understood as fanaticism if applied to the public, but, 
happily, His ascetic preaching was solely directed to 
His apostles and disciples. True, one who wishes 
to outdistance the normal path of psychic progression 
and believes himself possessed of enough will-power 
to master ascetic practices can obtain perfect control 
of the body by limiting its wants to the outer order 
of life sustainment. But this should be done under 
the supervision of a living teacher, acquainted with 
physical qualities of endurance and the indraw- 
ing and outbreaking of the life-force. Much of 
this bodily control can be had through the Delsarte 
system of expression. This system is a very imper- 
fect imitation of the grand Yoga systems of the 
Orient, particularly the Hatha Yoga, or the Yoga 
referring to the control of the body. This body 
3 T oga has nothing to do with religion. It simply paves 
the way to conscious control of the involuntary 
muscles of the body and the rebirth of atrophied parts. 
This signals the liberation of the body from disease, 
for the master in these psycho-physical practices can, 
by certain movements of the body, regulate the action 
of the gastric juices, the motion of the heart and the 
general function of the digestive and circulatory 
systems. Control of these centers of physical 
activity enables the practitioner to throw abnormal 
tendencies into the sphere of normality and, not only 
that, but to increase the abiding condition and qualities 
of these functions to a point where they become super- 
latively even in their regulation and movement. Sick- 



132 Physical Kelations. 

ness is the result of the conflict of bodily motions; 
health, their perfect adjustment. In any effort to 
progress in a psychic manner, it is positively neces- 
sary to maintain an equilibrium of the forces working 
in the body. The seeker after truth cannot be ham- 
pered in his psychic unfoldment by any physical in- 
harmony. Physical inharmony has a tendency to pull 
down the mind and to hinder it from proper concen- 
tration. We have instances where men of great moral 
and mental stamina have achieved spiritual and 
psychic greatness while laboring under great physical 
stress, but the instances are rare. That is why, in 
all systems which have Self-knowledge for their cen- 
tral basis, there is, first of all, a physical method 
proposed by which the physical can become thoroughly 
self-established and self-active, regular in condition 
and motion. But the goal of all effort must not be 
confused with physical well-being. It has little, if 
anything, to do with it. If well-being and the regu- 
larity of motion of physical forces were the sum total 
of all effort, then the tree and the stone are religious. 
Our day is a day of healers and healing. Eeligion 
is intimately related to mental therapeutics. Until 
the upholders of these religio-therapeutic cults turn 
their attention to religion and place sanatative values 
in their true meaning, they are not firmly established. 
The body is a mass of sentiency supervised by presid- 
ing consciousness. At death the consciousness recedes 
to the immediately subjective plane, the psychic 
plane, and the body appears to be activeless, lifeless 
and motionless. The very contrary is true. Never 



Physical Kelations. 133 

is the body in such a high state of activity as at dis- 
integration. Disintegration is as specialized a motion 
of life as the organic activities continuously carried 
on while the body is inhabited by consciousness. This 
disintegration is a whirl of manifestation. Con- 
sciousness is the controlling energy of life, drawing 
the internal and external activities of the body within 
the sphere of its conscious and sub-conscious desire. 
When consciousness is withdrawn all the cell-lives, 
all atomic and molecular lives lose their integrated 
character and become a seething vortex of uncon- 
trolled lives. They no longer work in regular order. 
They have become segregated and the body which was 
formed through their co-ordinate activity, gradually 
dissolves as these minute lives associate themselves 
with the respective bodily, vegetal or mineral sub- 
stance for which their activity calls. "Death is but 
another aspect of life, and the destruction of one 
material is but a prelude to the building up of an- 
other." Our bodies are a mass of life, appearing in- 
organic because of the limited sense of vision, which, 
unassisted by microscopic instruments, is unable to 
detect the aggregated infinitesimal lives which form 
separate cells. Men cannot readily understand how 
all that is presumed to be inorganic is, in reality, 
highly constituted life, imperceptible to normal vi- 
sion. All that science can do is to approve the aeon- 
old theories of spiritual science. The theory of 
atomic life was once ridiculed as impossible. ISTow it 
is the very basis of bacteriology and that department 
of medicine which deals with parasitic and blood dis- 



134 Physical Relations. 

eases. Until recently it was thought that bacteria and 
other lives which were discovered in the body were 
"abnormal visitors" and the cause of disease. They 
were identified as disease germs. Now, however, 
more concerning them is known. Not only are there 
disease germs in the body, but armies and armies of 
health germs which labor for the upbuilding and pro- 
vidence of the body. Cicatrices on wounds, scars, 
callosities and kindred physical conditions are the 
work of these armies of life savers. There is always 
this duality, this struggle between health and disease 
microbes, and we can assist the former by adapting 
our bodily habits so that they can more readily and 
more effectively do the work of restoration and the 
fighting-off of disease. If we recover from serious 
illness, we have not only our physician to thank, but 
also these innumerable and infinitesimal workers who 
are always at work in our behalf. If we become 
masters in psychic control or if we become self-con- 
trolled through the concentrative method, we can 
immeasurably aid these little lives whose existence is 
occupied with the arrangement of our lives. 

Esotericism, more alive to truth than the high 
material science, recognizes life in every form and 
condition of the universal order. It sees a life in the 
fire, in the water, in the earth, in the air, everywhere. 
It sees individualized lives in the numberless atoms 
which form these elements. Life is a marvel of 
marvels, an ever-recurring wonder, an everlasting 
procession of life eternal. Those who pride them- 
selves on our modern-day sciences are as children in 



Physical Eelations. 135 

comparison with those men who thought out these 
things ages before there was human habitation in the 
lands of Europe. There is nothing new under the 
sun. All acquired knoweldge is only a new presenta- 
tion of truths older than time itself. For all truth, 
like all life, is eternal. 

The physical control which the culture of Self- 
knowledge imposes is far beyond the classification of 
any health cult. It is more psychological than thera- 
peutical. It is mental rather than physical. The 
aim of Self-knowledge is knowledge of every condi- 
tion which bears any relation to the higher interests 
of the soul. Control must be exercised from the 
ground up, so to speak. Everything that pertains to 
the personality must be properly adjusted and bal- 
anced. The higher harmonies are always based on 
the lower, and the climax of attainment is the climax 
of all the harmonies which, in degree of growth and 
circumference, make the summit of harmony. The 
ultimum of attainment through Self-knowledge may 
be compared to a grand symphony, when every varia- 
tion of sound is perfectly interblended, when every 
note is true and every modulation, the acme of 
technical perfection. The physical must not be un- 
derestimated. It, too, has its relation to the whole 
and, in the whole, even to the Self. The Self, as it 
were, reaches in and through all its outer garments 
of expression, reaches the physical and gives it the 
vivifying touch by which it throws off impurity, 
placing itself in accord with the Law and preparing 
the foundation, solid and well constructed, on which 



136 Physical Eelations. 

the Self rears the marvelous structure of its power, 
and perfection. All preachers of truth, all inter- 
preters of the higher teachings, had a worthy con- 
ception of the body, and of the interrelation of the 
Self and the physical. In speaking of the body, they 
call it "the temple 7 ' of the Self. They say that eat- 
ing, drinking, sleeping and the many pursuits of 
physical necessities are not to be suppressed. Every 
motion, every act, if turned into the proper channel 
of expression and directed to the Self, becomes divine 
in meaning and in efficacy. Everything belongs to 
the all-containing Self. Nothing exists besides it. 
Therefore, in a relative sense, the physical and the 
body are to be considered as belongings of the Ideal. 
In that light their activity can never become misdi- 
rected. It can never manifest the low or inverted 
order. If the body is hungry or cold or suffering any 
discomfort the sage attends to the need, knowing 
that if the body is in any way discommoded it is 
no longer a perfect manifesting conduit for the phys- 
ical and terrestrial expression of Self. The student 
of spiritual matters is anxious to give the body such 
food and such physical comfort as will enable it to 
do the greatest amount of service. Perfect service 
is the work of all conditions, the manifested action of 
inner harmony. In relation to purity of food, the 
scriptures of various nations differ as to the nature of 
pure food. The Bible, for example, particularly the 
Old Testament, denounces the use of swine's flesh. 
In this a wise physiological providence is discerned; 
it was hygienic advice. In a country like Judaea 



Physical Eelations. 137 

pork is the last food permissible. Its indiscrim- 
inate use would result in digestive disorder and 
manifold trouble. The Mohammedans condemn pork 
for the same reason. They also condemn every 
kind of liquor because in that climate, liquors have 
harmful influence. With the spread of Christian- 
ity this rigid adherence of abstinence from pork 
relaxed. It goes to show that the New Testament 
preached to the inhabitants of colder lands, changed 
in this regard from the Old Testament, owing 
to the difference in climatic and temperamental 
surroundings. The Arabian and the German or 
the Norwegian live in separate spheres of physical 
relationship. What would be food for the one 
would be poison for the other. Meat is not a 
tropical food, but in cold regions it is a physical re- 
quirement. The fat substance and the animal stimu- 
lus of food are essential in the temperate zone, 
especially in its upper region. There is nothing sin- 
ful in the eating of meat. Meat is vitalized vegetal 
matter. In the end, all energy and life force, and 
matter which supplies physical vitality comes from 
the sun. The vegetal kingdom receives its life and 
life material from the sun in a direct manner. The 
herbivorous animals live upon the vegetal kingdom. 
The carnivorous animals live upon flesh, and all, 
directly or indirectly, get subsistence from the sun. 

The East Indians have alone transposed a psycho- 
spiritual meaning in food regulation and prescription. 
They did not confine abstinence solely to pork, but 
to meat as such. The reason given was, that all life 



138 Physical Relations. 

being one, it is sacred, and inviolable irrespective of 
form. Another and still deeper significance attached 
itself. Animal foods, being the most indirect of all 
sim-prodiiced foods, were purveyors of impurities. 
The idea is that the more the body obtains food and 
life supply direct from the sun, the more is it in 
natural harmony and the elements of the body are 
purer. Animal food is coarse and, therefore, little of 
it should be eaten. The religious teacher does not 
say: "Thou shalt not eat meat." He only advises 
that it is rather indiscriminate to indulge in it, to 
accustom the appetite to its taste, and make it a mat- 
ter of habit. If there is the want for meat, if it is 
necessary for bodily sustenance, the thing to do is 
to eat meat. All this seems strange to those who do 
not understand the psychology of food. What we are 
is largely the result of food. Food produces various 
humors which affect the body, and from food tem- 
perament largely develops. The elephant is herbiv- 
orous; it is also gentle. Its size would apparently 
make it formidable, but size has nothing to do with 
temper. It is a matter of food. The lion lives on 
meat; it is dangerous. This is likewise true of all 
the cat and canine tribes. To bring this closer to 
mind, examine the processes of digestion. We eat 
bread and the digestive process takes the substances 
which compose bread and converts them into blood, 
muscle, bone, tissue and vitality. The same holds 
good of meat. The digestive processes take the sub- 
stances of the meat — that is the vitality, the essence, 
the tissue, the bones, the muscle — and convert these 



Physical Kelations. 139 

into bodily sustenance. This brings the idea clearly 
and forcibly to mind. There is nothing sentimental 
or emotional about dietetics. It is really sanative 
and hygienic. It is psychological, and only the 
ignorant will cast any slur on the idea. All spiritual 
thought is based on careful empiricism, on minute 
study of physical details. It does not bind the will. 
It educates and allows the individual to determine 
and choose. It is not in compulsion that perfection 
is had, but in knowledge and discrimination between 
what is right and what is wrong. The Self is free, 
and if the lower self is to attain to oneness with the 
higher Self then it too must be free. If it goes 
astray, if it desires to tread the dubious path, well 
and good. It inevitably must turn back and know 
and do better. The soul must awaken to truth ; other- 
wise there is little merit to right conduct performed 
because wrong conduct is unknown. It is easy enough 
to be moral when one is far removed from temptation 
and does not know its meaning. If one wishes to 
eat meat, he is at liberty to do so. He is at liberty 
to do whatsoever he pleases. Experience will be his 
teacher and in the end truth will prevail. 

There is always danger that the mind, concentrated 
upon certain things, will fall short of others. There 
are those who believe spirituality to consist in ad- 
herence to outward form. These worship form, not 
for the meaning of the form, but because of the form 
itself. This is idolatry and is psychologically un- 
wholesome. One side of such natures is distorted. 
We need only consider the Turk. The Turk is a prac- 



140 Physical Kelations. 

tical prohibitionist, but he is a sexual esthete. Moham- 
med was f arseeing. He told his followers they must 
not eat pork or drink stimulants, but wives they could 
have to the number of four. One does not have to 
look very far for the cause of this code. Polygamy 
is an essential element in rapid production. It formed 
one of the more radical methods for the propagation 
of the Mohammedan faith, more certain even than 
conversion by sword. The celestial habitations of 
the Mohammedan faith partook of the same sexual 
savor which spiced the earthly life of the follower, 
only the sense pleasures were vivified. This is the 
danger of specialization in the moral code, the over- 
emphasis of one mandate to the exclusion of others. 
The practical consequences of this condition are enor- 
mous. It is witnessed in the decadence of the Mo- 
hammedan race and its backward position in the 
progress of civilization. Wrong stimulus may have 
its good effect in the beginning, but it is disastrous in 
the end. It is not enough that one element must be 
controlled and the rest allowed to run riot. All the 
physical elements must be mastered and their service 
directed to spiritual attainment. That is the secret, 
not only of religious and psychic progress, but also of 
social progress. 

The physical, when controlled, allows a greater 
field for the action and control of mind. It shows 
the mind its self-sufficiency, that it is not bound 
by physical limitations. Mind is inclusive of body. 
Mind manufactures body. Out of thought-material 
the body becomes concretized. The necessity is to 



Physical Kelations. 141 

concede intelligence to the sphere of intelligence, to 
the mind ; to know that the body is only the body, only 
an instrument, and that the aim and purpose of bodily 
comfort is only to render it useful for the higher 
life. There is no intelligence in the body. Intelli- 
gence of the mind resident in the body lends seem- 
ing intelligence to the body. The body is not dull, 
lifeless and inert, but a mass of instinctive intelli- 
gence of myriad lives which co-ordinate into a cell; 
of unthinkable myriad lives which form the number- 
less cells of body, building up the organs, tissue, bone 
and muscular structure. Intelligence alone is real; 
only in the distinctions of intelligence is substance 
recognized. Where men cannot discern intelligence 
they speak of substance, but what is substance ? Here 
is a layer of life strata and they call it human intelli- 
gence. But indefinitely above and beneath this ter- 
restrial strata are numberless other strata, spheres 
or planes of being. By the vivification of the senses 
super-physical spheres may be discerned and their 
intelligences communed with. Beyond the animal 
strata of being is the vegetal. The vegetal is no 
longer considered destitute of life. Men are apt to 
give too flimsy and narrow a meaning to the word 
"life." They call only those things alive which move 
and breathe. Botanists are now assured that vegetal 
forms communicate. Where sensitiveness is con- 
cerned, what is more sensitive than a sensitive plant ? 
It is alive with sensitiveness, and sensitiveness is the 
manifestation of life, real and active. The roses and 
the lilies, the violets and the pansies are alive, having 



142 Physical Relations. 

the tactual sense remarkably developed. It may seem 
somewhat sentimental to assert that flowers are re- 
sponsive to human love and care, nevertheless it is 
known that some flowers quickly wither if worn by 
certain people. This is a deep occult truth. The 
physical life of flowers, their fragile vitality, is 
quickly absorbed by persons of coarse vitality, whose 
very presence seems detrimental to flowers. Others 
can care for flowers and they remain in bloom for 
days. Those who are responsive to the sensitiveness 
of flowers will not carelessly pass one thrown on the 
street to wither and die. 

This shows us the livingness of the vegetal king- 
dom. Flowers seem to be only visions of material 
beauty, when in reality they are visions of the eternal 
beauty of life. The chemical kingdom is also a mass 
of life. Limited in sense perception and in that 
sensitiveness which overlaps the boundary of normal 
feeling, one cannot readily see life in chemicals, but 
the universe is constructed of chemicals. If there is 
life manifest in the concretely physical, life must 
also exist in chemical compositions out of which the 
physical universe is formed. It is a deep, deep study 
and the more the study, the greater the marvel. Nat- 
ure is a revelry of life, filled with life to complete- 
ness. A particle of water does not look like a world 
of life in itself, but to the millions of animalcule 
who inhabit it, it is a world of vast dimension. 

There is no substance. All is life, throbbing life. 
What appears to be matter exists only through normal 
vision which fails to discern the infinitely invisible 



Physical Eelations. 143 

life, cognizing only the outward condensation of that 
life in bulk. Beyond the terrestrial sphere are the 
psychic worlds, again all life and the manifestation 
of life. As the microscope presents a vision of the 
indefinitely small, so the psychometres and the instru- 
ments of psychic discoveries relate the physical to the 
psychic worlds, revealing life, infinite, all-pervading, 
illimitable, inconceivable, omnipresent life. The 
vastness of the cosmos with its innumerable phe- 
nomena is, when rightly perceived, but a replica, vast 
and pregnant, of the greatness of Self. Man is by 
far greater than all this physical greatness of dimen- 
sion and bulk and most important in the universal 
order, for all material existence and form is depend- 
ent on the expression and determining influence of 
the individual. 

Insight into the importance and relation of the 
physical, demands intuitive perception. It takes lives 
of continued effort for a single science to evolve. The 
science of language has developed with the patience, 
investigation and perseverance of hundreds of in- 
dividual lives. So, in the summary of individual un- 
derstanding of Self and the physical, it requires re- 
peated individual lives of effort to realize truth. But, 
if persisted in, the end is sure. 



MORAL RELATIONS. 



CHAPTEK VII. 



MORAL RELATIONS. 



The responsibility to life each individual owes is 
the preservation of the sacredness and wholesomeness 
of life, so far as it lies within his control to check 
retrogressive influences. Each person is the custodian 
of the individualized force, constituting his nature. 
According to the fluctuations and the rhythm of in- 
dividual life is its wholesomeness and evolution de- 
termined. Each particle of the great sea has its 
influence upon the sum total of waters. One cannot 
disturb a particle, but what the entire sea must re- 
adjust itself. So it is with the infinite ocean of 
existence. The various inharmonies of individual 
lives have wide effect. Each and every thought, each 
and every attitude of personal life has its latitude of 
collective influence. Even as in the material order, 
an insignificant atom has tremendous activity, so the 
slightest variation of thought has a wide area of 
influence. The disturbance of matter in the potential 
order will cause the potential to become kinetic, to 
manifest. The disturbance of the minutest particle 
of the psychic element will disturb the whole constitu- 
tion of the individual. Eor this reason is self-control 
a necessity. It is good to obey the moral law, not 
because of any reward here or hereafter, but because 



148 Moral Relations. 

by adjusting desires, thoughts, and emotions to moral 
law, men harmonize their individual life forces, and 
acquire self-mastery. Regenerate characteristics are 
stimuli to evolution. They serve not only to direct 
the mind into higher forms of co-ordination and activ- 
ity, but also have important bearing on physical mal- 
adjustments, rearranging discordant elements, and 
bringing them into their sphere of usefulness. Moral- 
ity has nothing to do with sentimentalism ; it has 
everything to do with mental and physical sanity, 
with the specialization of factors conducive to the 
aggrandizement of individuality, to the perfection of 
sensibilities, and the manifestation of potential facul- 
ties and talents. Morality is a solid, concrete, power- 
ful force capable of producing radical results. Proper 
moral attitudes are vibrant with the strength of re- 
sistance. Virtue may, as a poet says, "often arise 
from sated desire," but it may also exist through lack 
of temptation. Many are virtuous because they have 
never had the opportunity to be otherwise. It is not 
in shunning evil that moral strength is manifested, 
but in overcoming spiritual lethargy in the very pres- 
ence of passion. Virtue comes not from inexperience 
but through multitudes of experiences; as the climax 
of the relations between the soul and desire and pas- 
sion. It is only when the mind realizes the vanity 
of things that their experience and pleasure become 
negative to consciousness. The untutored and unin- 
formed soul "kisses the mouth of sin" unawares of the 
ominous significance. The average mind has but an 
instinctive and a conventional moral consciousness. 



Moral Eelations. 149 

That is why, in the processes of evolution, various 
conditions develop to stem or change the tide of public 
understanding of morality. 

The moral element has meaning in the harmony of 
individual constituents. It manifests in relegating 
instincts to their proper sphere, and in changing in- 
verted instincts into modes of serviceability. The 
moral has significance in the sympathetic. Sympathy 
and moral consciousness are co-existent. Consider 
the meaning of the word and its derivation. The root 
is in the Greek noun "pathos" which means feeling, 
and in "sun" the Greek preposition with. Thus 
"with feeling" is the meaning of sympathy. If one 
sympathizes with the sorrow of a friend, he does so 
in ratio to his sensitiveness to the vibrations causing 
the sorrow of his friend. Similarly with joyous 
sympathy. Morally applied, sympathy is the har- 
mony of consciousness with evolved instincts and emo- 
tions. Men of spiritual sympathies feel the harmony 
of the higher and the discord of the lower, and revolt 
at the latter and adapt themselves to the former. 
When feeling is beautiful in conception, it no longer 
contains itself, but flows from the heart as a filled 
vessel overflows. It is then truly great, and its in- 
fluence is truly healing and restorative. Whenever 
such sympathy is applied to the miseries of others, 
redemption follows in its wake. That is the meaning 
of the redemption by the "Son of Man." The Christ 
was transfigured with sympathy for man, enslaved in 
ignorance and prey to each retrogressive influence. 
Sympathy naturally develops love. Eedemption was 



150 Moral Eelations. 

not due to any desire to save humanity from the 
rigorous and exacting justice of a vengeful deity. 
It was the natural outcome of a great love. Great 
lovers of humanity are active workers in changing 
the course of stagnant expression. Their activity 
is the triumph of a developed moral comprehen- 
sion. The meaning of natural evolution is moral. 
All effort at variation of form and specialization 
of force has deep vital meaning. The achievement 
of nobler channels of expression, the development 
of better modes of manifestation has a mental 
and psychic bearing in keeping with physical evo- 
lution. There is a biological and evolutionary 
idea in many of the truths interpreted by religious 
dogma. The central facts of the chemical and biolog- 
ical sciences have always been known. Our modern 
science is only re-discovering ancient truths. The 
public receives its scientific information in different 
forms. It is generally interpreted in practical values, 
and that is the essential in the education of public 
opinion. Science unearths different laws and dis- 
coveries and applies them in the practical course of 
scientific education. Knowledge must turn into serv- 
iceableness before it has any than a purely theoretical 
value. Practicality is the value of theory. Theory, 
if well founded, aims at practicality. Scientific truth 
was delivered in ancient times through religious sym- 
bolism and mythology. The priests were not only cus- 
todians of moral truth, but equally custodians of his- 
toric and scientific truth. The people were illiterate, 
therefore truth could be interpreted to them only 



Moral Kelations. 151 

through the imaginative process. In the beginning, 
this interpretation was perfect and in harmony with 
truth, but, in time, the priestly caste neglected its 
original responsibility and intellectual pursuit. The 
religious interpretation of truth became solely myth- 
ological and symbolistic. Thus the latter was exclu- 
sively dwelt on and, in time, became the distinguish- 
ing features of orthodox religion. Scientific pursuits 
were inherited by worthy exponents of secular life. 
Then misunderstanding, bitterness and struggle arose 
between the sectarian and the religious interpretation 
of truth, but this was rather characteristic of religious 
growth in the Occident than in the Orient. The re- 
ligious sages of the Orient were allowed liberty of 
expression and of thought. Sectarianism, persecu- 
tion and intolerance, strange to say, were and are 
even now unknown in those lands where the religious 
instinct has been most developed and cultivated. In- 
tellectual freedom is the condition of true religious 
growth. ~No true teacher instils the idea of blind 
faith. Such faith is pernicious. Religion and science 
must unite their forces even as they did in the begin- 
ning, when the priestly was also the intellectual caste. 
We are not far from this blending of sectarian and 
religious truth, for truth is ever one without a second 
and all followers of truth are priests in their respec- 
tive way. The spreading of truth is the spreading of 
evolutionary tendencies and impulses. The practical 
teacher of truth is always a true teacher though his 
voice sound in the market-places of existence and as 
great as the religious teacher, surrounded with the 



152 Moral Relations. 

paraphernalia of religion, its symbolism, color, and 
its variations of musical and poetic harmony. The 
primitive teacher had no temple but the temple of 
nature, no dome but the empyrean, no language but 
the simplest, no song but the eternal praise of the 
heart, no liturgy but unexampled beauty of conduct, 
no symbolism but the mystic relation between the 
idealist and the ideal. The purveyor of scientific 
truth, generally speaking, is bound heart and soul to 
the finding and spreading of truth. His life is 
mental. His physical wants are few. The mystic 
of science and the mystic of religion can readily join 
hands. Bid of bias, they can together tread the path 
to nobler things. Spiritual philosophy is the aesthetic 
outcome of material research, and in no wise dis- 
tinct. The genesis of man, the formation of the 
earth, all that geology and biology have discovered is 
but second-hand knowledge. "There is nothing new 
under the sun." The astronomical and mythological 
conceptions of the ancient Aryans smybolize and 
agree with the scientific facts of to-day. Knowledge 
evolves through lower forms and experience. Every- 
thing, so to speak, goes through cycles, many times 
repeating itself. Repetition increases the natural 
tendency to preservation of type. There are many 
associations which can only be rendered stable through 
indefinite repetition. The development of unselfish 
emotions required unthinkable aeons. Returning to 
the idea that the most evolved of modern ideas is but 
the re-echoing of ancient science, we recall the atomic 
theory of the origin of the cosmos held by several of 



Moral Relations. 153 

the Greek philosophical schools. To arrive at the 
atomic theory of cosmic evolution necessitates an ex- 
perimental investigation into the chemical nature of 
things. Speculative knowledge is based on experi- 
mental investigation. So when the Greeks, or the 
Vaiseshika, or the Nyaya thinkers of India reasoned 
concerning the atomic theory, there must either have 
for ages been prevalent the belief, based upon experi- 
mental investigation, or else these philosophers un- 
earthed that discovery for themselves. Many labor 
under the impression that the philosophical systems 
of antiquity were radically imperfect by reason of a 
lack of practical scientific support. A little inquiry 
into the nature and growth of these philosophies will 
reassure us of the scientific foundation upon which 
they were based. In the disruption of the civiliza- 
tion of the ancient world many things of paramount 
importance were lost. The double burning of the 
Alexandrian library, the devastation of Christian and 
Mohammedan literary and scientific treasures by 
Christian and Mohammedan zealots had incalculably 
destructive influence on scientific achievements of the 
past. Relative to the subject under discussion was 
the ruthless burning of the archives of pre-historic 
Mexican and Peruvian civilizations, the destruction 
of hieroglyphic tablets and picture scripts which 
might have given us important knowledge of the 
character and civilization of pre-historic America. 
Inestimably much scientific lore of the ancient world 
was swept into oblivion by the usurpation, ignorance 
and superstition of the dark ages following the Chris- 



154 Moral Relations. 

tianization of the provinces of the Roman empire. 
Cicero says that in his day telescopes were in use that 
enabled them to plainly distinguish the pillars of Her- 
cules, now the Straits of Gibraltar, when viewed from 
the city of Syracuse. We can but pause astonished by 
the engineering feats of the Egyptians in constructing 
the pyramids. The mechanical secret of the building 
of the pyramids, as well as the geometrical knowledge 
that afforded the mathematical basis for their design, 
are forever lost. The greatest of modern engineering 
achievements do not diminish the lustre of the engi- 
neering feats of the ancients. Other great accom- 
plishments of ancient engineering skill were the build- 
ing of the Roman roads and the constructions of the 
Roman aqueducts, particularly that of the Cloaca 
Maxima. The ancients based their philosophy on the 
scientific attainments of past epochs. Their philos- 
ophy was on a par with their artistic and literary 
culture. Strange it is, that, in spite of the modern 
boast of superiority, we are still borrowing rhetorical 
standards from the Greeks and Romans, still plagia- 
rizing artistic culture from the inimitable Greeks, 
and only just discovering the science of psychology 
which was perfectly understood and applied centuries 
ago in ancient India. 

The pre-eminent significance of wholesomeness of 
character is the transmission of that wholesomeness. 
Degeneracy of character has its synthetic value in 
the entire personality and, as the avenue of reincarna- 
tion is through personality, gross characters on this 
plane of life can be conduits only of gross physical 



Moral Relations. 155 

reincarnation. Their children are instinctively re- 
trogressive and readily adjust themselves to low en- 
vironment. With proper parental equilibrium, much 
of the misery of the world would be eradicated. 
There may arise as many eugenic associations as pos- 
sible, but it is only with the growth of individual un- 
derstanding that any relief can be had. The follow- 
ing of borrowed suggestions can only lead to paradox- 
ical results. That is the flaw in radical reforms. 
Individual growth will be the redeeming factor in 
social disturbances and in individual need. The in- 
dividual is the only salvation to the individual. He 
must appreciate the tremendous responsibility paren- 
tal life imposes and awaken to the sense of duties 
which call for moral perfection, not for selfish rea- 
sons, but for purity of hereditary transmission. Many 
are like children with the responsibility of giant char- 
acters. The performance of duties to posterity re- 
quires moral development. We fail to realize for 
what purpose we are on this plane of being. Instinc- 
tively, men are followers of impulse, regardless to 
what ends thoughtless conduct leads. Duty to pos- 
terity is not so much physical as mental and psychical. 
The physical is, at its best, only a poor counterpart 
of the characteristics of the thinker. The mental 
forms and forces which proceed from the will of the 
thinker are the true determining factors of physical 
expression. When all correspondences of personality 
are equal, posterity is assured as to beauty and fruit- 
age of expression. Where there is an overlapping, 
either of good or evil, descendants run short of pater- 



156 Moral Relations. 

nal standards. A highly-keyed personality, whose con- 
sciousness is rather on the mental than on the desire 
plane, absorbs too mnch vital force in personal expres- 
sion to enable his descendants to properly partake of 
parental, mental or personal advantages of parents. 
This explains why men of calibre often have descend- 
ants far beneath their personal level. We find the 
sons of Caesar and Cicero unknown and inconsequen- 
tial save for their illustrious parentage. Too much 
vitality has gone in the maintenance of personal equi- 
librium. Men with high-pitched ambitions, men with 
high-strung temperaments are absorbers of their own 
life-forces and thus have little to transmit to posterity. 
The control of the finer forces of our nature is also 
the control of the moral element and the element of 
wholesomeness of progeny. It is also, and more espe- 
cially, the factor through which the individual is him- 
self perfected, harmonized in nature, and brought 
under control of higher influences. The personality 
is given greater area of expression, a wider field of 
activity, a greater evolutionary course. Personality 
is composed of various discordant elements, and it is 
in this discordance of vibratory influences and cir- 
cumstances that personality changes and develops. 
Personality must be tempered ; the discordances must 
be equalized into one unifying condition, and that 
condition is the state of psychic control. Psychic 
/ control is the control of the finer forces of our nature. 
And what are these finer forces? They are the 
residuum of past impressions and influences which 
have subsided beyond the plane of consciousness, but 



Moral Kelations. 157 

which are still vibrant and effective. These finer 
forces are strange in their activity. They form the 
fundamental essence of passions. When a person 
says: "I am angry," a great deal more is implied 
than is supposed. A state of anger assumes definite 
form only in the plane of normal consciousness; be- 
neath that plane it has resemblance to atomic ele- 
ments. Gaining control of these "psychic atoms," so 
to speak, is gaining control of states of normal con- 
sciousness. An aggregation of thought is as vastly dis- 
tinct from unconditioned consciousness as the body. 
Just as identification of the real ego with the body 
is radically erroneous, so the identification of the soul 
with mental conditions is wrong. The soul is not 
any separate state of thought nor any aggregate of 
separate states. It is free and unconditioned. As 
the soul associates itself with mental and physical 
phenomena, it identifies itself with them. Anger is a 
mental condition. It has nothing to do with the pure 
and unchangeable soul. Just as the physical world is 
the storehouse of material forms, so there is a mental 
world which serves as the storehouse for mental forms. 
Mental forms are only physical forms of rarer com- 
position that are invisible to the corporeal eye and 
intangible to the senses. The mind, in psychic vision, 
can distinguish this mental world, its forms, vibra- 
tions and influences, and thus realize the mistake of 
identifying itself with mental forms. The mind, 
encased in the flesh, is naturally occupied with phys- 
ical realities, but once its nature is known, or more 
discovered concerning its activity, a spiritual insight 



158 Moral Kelations. 

develops which will afford clear perception of the finer 
forces. Back of our personal nature is the weight of 
the lives past and the influence of those lives vibrate 
with tremendous potency. Men find themselves urged 
to different expressions of conduct, willy nilly. They 
seem to have no control over conditions changing the 
current of their lives. Such conditions are the habits 
formed and regulated by numberless acts in past 
lives. The method of mastering these forces is 
through the medium of opposites, by arousing con- 
trary states in the mind. The constant practice of 
such acts as these states represent will form an oppos- 
ing force against the compelling influence beneath 
consciousness. All subconscious activity was once 
in the dominion of conscious control. When any- 
thing passes beneath the plane of consciousness it is 
not essentially different than it was in the conscious 
area. It has simply become fine and potential. Each 
and every thought is another link in that chain 
which must be severed ere the soul can breathe the 
pure atmosphere of Spirit. Good and evil, pleasure 
and pain, all these and their resemblances have no 
purpose, save the transformation of character. Char- 
acter, in reality, is consciousness in the normal ; it is 
also the functioning of consciousness beneath the 
plane of the normal. Subconscious forces and vibra- 
tions are partial influences of character, each striv- 
ing for mastery over the others. Single of these 
psychic elements of character formulate into varied 
aggregations. Some have the character of anger, of 
gross passion, some of covetousness and different 



Moral Relations. 159 

forms of selfishness, and so on. Some also have the 
character of hope, of patience, of perservance, of 
strength, of truthfulness, and various forms of virtue. 
Good and evil, with all their variations, are in the 
mental world, existing on higher or lower planes. 
The meaning of personality can thus be understood 
in the nature, quality and power of character. Quali- 
fied by duality and manifoldness, the mind is the 
foundation and the area of every expression. Into this 
network of the mind the soul has placed itself. The 
aim is to extricate itself from this network of illu- 
sion. Just as long as the real "I" is identified with 
anger, with fear, with weakness, with hope, or with 
any of the distinctions of good or evil, just so long 
is the mind the recurrent inheritor of physical bond- 
age. This world is a great school. The child does 
not question concerning the construction of the school. 
It does not know the builder or the building condi- 
tions under which it was erected. All he knows is 
that he has his lessons to learn, that if he learns 
them he will be rewarded, and that if he fails to 
learn them he will be punished. We have our 
duties before us. We know that if we pursue a 
certain course it will be inevitably followed by 
pain. We also know that if we pursue another 
course it will bring us peace and reward. The very 
first lesson to be learned is that pleasure and pain 
are in themselves relative that they lack meaning 
outside of their value in developing new and more 
inclusive ideals of character. Character, however, is 
only incidental to further enlightment. Character 



160 Moral Eelations. 

leads us through the various experiences of terrestrial 
life, reincarnating the soul time and again and, 
finally, revealing to it the divinity of its nature. The 
evolution of character carries us from primitive moral 
concepts to the highest, and back of each character is 
the entirety of this evolution. All come through 
the chaos of the beginnings, upward and upward, 
until the very highest climax is reached, the develop- 
ment and the perfection of human nature. Innumer- 
able human lives develop the character of the potential 
god. The god-like character reincarnates until, 
through the vison of the god, a faint glimpse is 
caught of the final realization of the omniscient, om- 
nipresent, solely existent Supreme, the soul of the 
human, of the animal, of the god, of the lowest of 
creatures. 

Charcater is another method of attainment. It is 
the development of the best of the elements of human 
nature. These high sounding names, pregnant with 
psychic unfoldment, are simply different names for 
character. All moral effort is effort at psychic con- 
trol. It is the relinquishment of the lower for the 
everlasting Self. It is the real assertion of developed 
individuality expresed in the realization of the 
adept Every effort of self-control is an effort in the 
final realization of that wisdom which can alone 
redeem the soul from the cycle of ignorance and 
superstition. Therefore, whosoever minimizes the 
importance of character in the evolution of spiritual 
consciousness, blasphemes his own nature. Before 
the higher can be reached, the lower must have been 



Moral Relations. 161 

passed, and that lower is the instinctive and the selfish 
self, the self of appetites and physical desires. The 
passing of the lower is the education of the human 
self, and the human is the reflection of the divine. 
All self -repression performed for the sake of Self, all 
extinction of the lower for the higher, all sacrifice 
and sorrow undergone for the sake of the soul is real- 
ized in normal culture. This is the secret of morality 
which few who delve in metaphyseal abstraction dis- 
cover. There is always this danger in reasoning in 
universals that particulars are lost sight of, and par- 
ticulars are as weighty as the highest embracive con- 
cept. Particulars may lose their meaning and iden- 
tity when absorbed into the final thesis, but, consid- 
ered in themselves, their importance is definite. The 
identity with the Supreme, the realization in con- 
sciousness of the divinity of the soul transcend all 
finiteness. One cannot say: "Such a state is this," 
or, "Such a state is that." It is neither good nor evil, 
for it is beyond these as beyond all relativities. Such 
a state is inconceivable and unknowable to the 
human mind. It is knowable only to those whose 
strength of purpose has carried them beyond the lim- 
itations of the human mind into the perception of 
essential truth and life. The sincere philosopher 
keeps pace with his convictions. ~No one who is aware 
of its poison, approaches a venomous snake. Neither 
will the true philosopher, who sees unity in all, one- 
ness in manifoldness, who recognizes the existence of 
infinite intelligence and the infinite presence of the 
Supreme, violate his convictions by infringing the 



162 Moral Relations. 

moral code. "Whatsoever you do unto the least of 
these, you do unto Me," said one of the greatest of 
the children of men. Belief is truest belief, only 
when supported by the heart. 

Long is the way of darkness, and dense the night 
of ignorance. Steep is the upward ascent from the 
primeval, and the light which illumines the early 
path is feeble. The way is paved with the forms of 
body and the forms of mind, and thought is as gross 
as matter, for it is all grossness in comparison, with 
the rareness, the super-fineness, the aesthetic beauty 
of Spirit. All that is gross belongs to the order of 
illusion. Illusion is the mother of night and night, 
the habitation of the ignorant. Most terrible of the 
terrible is this illusion, for it is the mother of all 
terror, of the terrors of birth and death, of the things 
which seems hopeful and the things which seem hope- 
less. The veil of indiscrimination blinds the vison; 
the light is not seen, nor is its kindly influence felt. 
The sacrificial knife has been raised and the victim 
is sacrificed on the Altar of Darkness to the Primeval 
Mother, the Mother of Re-current Terror. There is 
much wailing and much woe for all the things which 
are false, because of their appearance of Truth. The 
Truth alone is self-established, for the Truth does not 
change, and the Truth leads. 

The dawn of deliverance is the signal for redemp- 
tion. The Voice of Truth is the Voice of the Silence. 
The awakening of the moral is the morning of de- 
liverance, and its keeping brings the seeker into the 
unclouded day of Spirit. There is more truth than 



Moral Relations. 163 

is known, and there is more truth in the truth which 
is already known. The quest of truth is the business 
of soul and, if ^the soul rightly relates itself, it can < 
expect the fullest revelation of truth. Nothing new 
can be said. The truth is the same, and has ever 
been the same, only its aspects are new, only its 
definitions suited to time and necessity. The ever- 
living truth is ever the saving truth. The truth is 
eternally one, essentially ever-present, essentially em- 
bodying the exalted principle of omniscience. He 
who has seen the truth becomes possessed of the truth, 
becomes one with the truth. In this sense, truth is 
separate in meaning from its ordinary significance, 
for it is the spirit of truth above all formulas, the 
spirit which interprets truth and guides its dispensa- 
tions. a When it is night to all beings, then is the 
man of self-control awake : when all beings are 
awake, then is the night of the man of knowledge." 
The man of self-control, of moral stamina is ever on 
the look-out against those very things with which 
men are most occupied, and for those things which 
seem so pleasing to most men, he is least concerned. 
His day is their night, their night, his day. Their 
knowledge is his ignorance; their ignorance, his 
knowledge. Out of the night of spiritual darkness 
duality comes forth ; out of the day of spiritual knowl- 
edge come unity and the consciousness of unity. 

Morality has special influence apart from the eth- 
ical. It has a sanitary influence, and that is practical. 
Tt is the practical adaptation of truth to life wherein 
its consistency shines forth and, in this respect, the 



164 Moral Relations. 

practical influence of morality is that it gives tone 
and freedom to natural growth and expression. It 
harmonizes discordant phyiscal vibrations and unifies 
conditions when proper activity depends on unity. A 
little reflection on the nature of ethical demands 
presents a clear insight into the respective social and 
sanative conditions brought about by obedience to 
them. 

The breaking of the moral code is the breaking of 
natural law. All excesses or the practice of conduct 
leading to excesses are unhealthy, as well as immoral. 
This affords new views of many things, which, dif- 
ferently considered, lose relation and significance. 
When men realize that different practices disturb 
physical equilibrium, they will at least appreciate the 
uses of the Law, even if they fail to follow it. The Law 
is not short sighted. At times it is simply rendered, 
and men imagine the truth as something far-fetched 
and fanciful, but the wisdom is real, as its practical 
application verifies. We are often blindly led by 
desire into paths seemingly strewn with pleasures, 
when, in reality, they are bordered with pain. Many 
deeds are "like goodly apples rotten at the heart." 
We are beguiled by the sophisms of desire. The 
moral has value, again, in that it is protective. The 
immoral is injurious. When we do wrong it is our-") 
selves whom we injure. The influence of conduct 
may extend to others, but the individual reaction is 
of far greater consequence. This idea, thoroughly 
established in consciousness, would inhibit the com- 
mittal of many a crime. As it is, men believe they 



Moral Relations. 165 

are pleasing themselves when they are frequently 
causing themselves illnesss and sorrow as a result of / 
thoughtless conduct. It is like a sphere. The pre- 
senting side of the sphere seems pleasing and promis- 
ing, but the opposite side is dark and foreboding. 
The personality turns the presenting side about to 
obtain a more complete view, and the dark side shows 
itself. That is the meaning of immorality. When 
we are immoral, we are our worst enemies. As the 
soul evolves, it discovers that it has neither friend 
nor enemy, but that its own acts attract good and 
evil conditions. The soul, in this, is absolutely free. 
Within its own depths lies the power to evoke bliss 
or pain, and as most persons are in ignorance of how 
to arouse the hidden forces of the soul, they measure 
out pain to themselves, although their purpose is 
self-pleasure. Pain and repeated pain follows, be- 
cause the soul has not as yet developed the discrimi- 
nation which distinguishes between the things which 
truly make for pleasure and the things which cause 
pain. The appearances of things deceive and will 
always deceive. The eye of the mind must train 
itself to see beneath the surface and to distinguish 
the germ of pain in the heart of seeming pleasure. 
There is no happiness in immoral or in selfish acts. 
Inordinate passion leads to mental and physical ruin. 
The drain on nervous energy is a robbing of the vital 
stamina. Passion is the perversion of natural desire. 
The fire and fever of inordinate desire consumes the 
mental and psychic forces, disturbs the instinctive life 
and destroys the conditions for spiritual harmony and 



166 Moral Eelations. 

progress. In these things lie the interpretation and 
the logical consistency of right conduct. Right should 
be enacted not for any sake, but for the sake of right. 
To be morally right is to be physically and mentally 
adjusted ; it means the harmony and perfect equilib- 
rium of personality. Man's responsibility during the 
sojourn on earth is the perfection of personality, and 
personality can be rendered perfect only by con- 
trolling its various principles. This presents a worthy 
attitude in relation to justice and truth. True, there 
is a humanitarian, an unselfish and an evolutionary 
motive for doing right, but the greatest motive is self- 
perfection. 

It is not in verbal assent to moral codes and in their 
intellectual support that good is done, but in actual, 
daily practice. Practice of moral demands will open 
the door of spiritual knowledge. If we are true to 
, ourselves and develop the very best within us, it 
follows that we can then be false to no man. We 
should be moral, because it is unhealthy to be other- 
wise. Some of the passions are directly telling upon 
the organs and functions of the body. Anger can 
cause the rupture of blood vessels and disturbs the 
proper action of the liver; fear will cause nervous 
prostration, often death. Jealousy and grief also 
have their effects on the body. Cases are frequently 
recorded where infants have died as the result of 
nursing the mother's milk, poisoned by her sudden 
and violent anger. The nervous and functional 
troubles arising through inverted desires and emotions 
are numerous, and often chronic and mortal. There- 



Moral Relations. 167 

fore, even from a physical point of view, too much 
stress cannot be laid on the uses of morality. Moral- 
ity will not be regarded much longer under a dogmatic 
or purely religious heading. The time is fast ap- 
proaching when the morally afflicted will be placed in 
the same standing as the physically afflicted, and 
treated and cared for. Advanced surgeons are already 
performing operations upon children of abnormal ten- 
dencies and, in frequent instances, complete cures are 
brought about. There is deeper value and importance 
attached to the conditions of the morally afflicted, for 
they are no longer considered wicked, but sick and, 
as sick persons, need medical or surgical attention. 
Under the heading of immorality may be included all 
such insanities as morbid worries of whatever descrip- 
tion. Responsible persons have no right to worry. 
It is sinful. It tends to self-depreciation and to 
weakness, and weakness is the only original sin. 
Morbid fears deplete vitality. Worry is as much of 
a sin as any numbered in the decalogues of religions. \ 
The most important influence of worry is its tendency 
to self-destruction. There are more ways to the sui- 
cide's grave than the sudden, fitful self-destruction 
almost daily witnessed. There is the self-murder 
arriving at its purpose by circuitous paths, and of 
these are worry and passion. In the mind of Him 
who wots of all things, the person who drinks him- 
self to the tomb, or slays himself through mad pas- 
sions, is as guilty of suicide as he who deliberately 
places the revolver to his head and shoots the bullet 
which sends him into eternity. This is another value 



' 



168 Moral Kelations. 

of morality, the value of responsibility. The results 
which this responsibility carries are more terrorsome 
than the wildest fancies of hell, for unlike hell they 
are real and cruel. It is only through pain that ex- 
perience is gained, and often that pain is bitterest. 

Experience is knowledge in the nut-shell, not dry, 
scholastic learning, but the conscious appreciation of 
the values of life. It is often a hard drilling. The 
pursuer of passion, fettered by the iron chain of habit, 

( has a hard time bursting the links of vice. Yet it all 
lies in the educated will, which must be aroused into 
activity and determination of purpose. Then the con- 
quest is easy, but this arousing of the will is far 
from the mind of the immoral man. He cannot school 
his mind to the necessary renunciation; so pain and 
misery compel him. When a man realizes danger 
from a certain direction he will not follow the line. 
The stricken soul must come to the practical realiza- 
tion of the danger and the suffering following the 
practice of evil conduct and absorb into consciousness 
the experience of pain. Then only can reform be 
hoped for. Then the will arises equal to the task of 
conquest over moral infirmities. Then the man can 
take a new hold on himself, uniting the lower with 
the higher Self. Men are their own executioners. 
There is no god who punishes. Who shall punish the 
soul in its nature essentially divine ? The essence of 
the soul is the essence of the Law. The Law and the 
individual are one. Therefore it is the individual 

. himself who inflicts his own punishment. Unac- 
quainted with the vital truth and with that discrimi- 



Moral Eelations. 169 

nation which distinguishes between good and evil, 
the soul pursues the mad course of desire, satisfies the 
cravings of the lower self and thus comes to misfor- 
tune. Each and every channel of imperfect expres- 
sion has to be reconstructed. Each discord must be 
brought to harmony, until the entire nature of per- 
sonality is well related. The only duty in life is the % 

t transformation of evil into good habits. In the per- ' 
fection of character is the perfection of personality, 
and in the perfection of the personality is the growth 
of the real individual ; and the perfection of the indi- 
vidual is the discovery of the soul and its identity 
with the Supreme. 

The soul is a magnet, attracting to itself everything 

[ and anything which it desires. Attractive forces at- 
tract to themselves only those conditions which are 
harmonious with their natures. This harmony often 
becomes inverted and the attraction and the result 
are, accordingly, inverted. One thing, which, prac- 
tically applied, is the greatest curse or blessing, is the 
knowledge that nothing can affect us from outside, 
that nothing outside of our own nature can impose 
anything upon us. If someone robs us, it is we who 
are robbing ourselves. If someone cuts our throat, it 
is we who are cutting our own throat. If we are illy 
born and physically deformed, we have ourselves to 
thank, ^o one but ourselves is to blame. We are the 

| masters of our fate and the architects of our destiny. 
In our hands lies the future, perhaps not the immedi- 
ate future, for that is already determined by past 
deeds, yet that, though not radically changeable, can 



( 



170 Moral Eelations. 

be bettered by the resolve to live harmoniously. Once 
the will has been educated and aroused, there is no 
end to its transforming power for good. Nothing can 
prevent its currents of expression. It is all in the 
will to be. We are so much concerned with the will 
to have. The manifestation of the will to have is the 
root of all selfishness and inversion of character. The 
will to be leads to exalted heights, transforms the 
miserable into the divine, changes the currents of evil 
into good, develops the inner faculties and powers of 
Spirit, leads to Self-knowledge and, ultimately, to 
realization. Therefore, men should make it the mas- 
ter-purpose of their lives to cherish and practically set 
forth the will to be. 

Moral practice is the pathway of redemption. The 
divine can realize divinity only in the manifestation 
of divinity. The pure and holy are realized only in 
the personalization of purity and holiness. That which 
is beyond birth and death must manifest this beyond- 
ness, and this manifestation is brought about through 
the constant practice of morality and unselfishness. 
In the core of every life stands that one Self. This is 
the true; this alone the immortal fact; this is alone 
the saving knowledge. This immortal Self is to be 
reached by the pathway of the glorious and perfect 
ones, those avIio have gone before, they the Sons of 
Light and Truth who have manifested in the Buddha 
and in the Christ character. These characters express 
the summary of moral practice. They are the es- 
sence of all that is pure and holy, all that is good and 
great, all that is perfect and sublime. This exalted 



Moral Eelations. 171 

state is reached only through long and wearisome lives 
of infinite patience and struggle where lapses are 
frequent and the rise difficult. Nothing reaches the 
goal in a moment. Everything is the result of long, 
patient, and persevering effort. That is why the path- 
way of the Immortals is beset with obstacles and dif- 
ficulties at every turn. This struggle is symbolized 
in the legend of St. George and the Dragon, in the 
legend of the Holy Grail, and in all great myths 
which have served as the moral standard for different 
nations at different stages of their unfoldment. This 
is the meaning of folk-lore and of all those elements 
which form the nucleus of great epics. This is the 
emphasis, and the worthiness of morality. It is not 
that the moral is of itself saving, but that obedience 
to moral demands is the path to realization of super- 
conscious truths. For ages upon ages man has dealt 
with outer meanings, with surface understandings, 
when deep beneath all this surface rubbish is the 
golden light whose ray gives whatever import there 
may be to external interpretation. Great is truth 
and perfect is wisdom, but both are beyond the aver- 
age conception. Truth is to be discovered, and with 
as great a zest and fervor of research as the worldly- 
minded give to the things of worldly importance. One 
cannot reach the heart of the universe and the secret 
of wisdom through haphazard and ill-directed effort. 
It requires the veriest energies of soul, veriest sincer- 
ity of purpose, exalted enthusiasm and high-minded- 
ness. In this highest of attitudes, conscious value of 
truth and life is brought to personal realization. For 



172 Moral Relations. 

this reason, obedience to moral demands is the essence 
of all virtue and the beauty of all truth. 

What is the nature of the moral ? How is it to be 
determined ? What are its essential characteristics ? 
That must be discerned by the soul itself. It is the 
duty of the soul to lay questions before its individual 
understanding. It must face each and every moral 
problem and solve that problem to the exclusive de- 
finition of the individual conscience. The soul must 
find itself through the solution of the moral problems. 
When it awakens to a sense of personal freedom and 
discovers that knowledge which leads to the emanci- 
pation of the intellect and the broadening of spiritual 
vision, only then is it in harmony with moral values. 
Morality has as deep a value in the order of life as 
science. Its final conclusions are scientific and, as 
previously stated, hygienic. The entire energy of 
the universe is far from physical; it is radically 
moral. It is not mental or scientific; it has purely 
moral relations. Eor example, the birth of the globe 
we inhabit has its ultimate purpose in the perfection 
of the feelings of its creatures and, as this perfection 
is to the greatest extent synthesized in man, it is the 
ethical development of the human race for which the 
earth is revolving about the sun. This is the purpose 
for which the sun rises and sets, for which the entire 
solar system moves and evolves. The ethical has its 
highest import in the consolidation of the true nature 
of man and the disintegration of retrogressive im- 
pulses and tendencies. 

It is not the focalization of power, not the consoli- 



Moral Kelations. 173 

dation of tremendous mental energies, but the evolu- 
tion of the heart of man and of the heart of the 
universe in which all effort is founded. The Great 
Unknown and the Blissful Supreme is mirrored in 
this reflection of Nature. Nature's aim is to perfect 
that reflection, until it is so purified and so purged 
from distinctions and personal idiosyncracies, that it 
loses separateness and merges into the very heart and 
living essence of the Great Unknowable Soul, the unit 
of existence, the heart of all wisdom and love. Moral- 
ity is the spirit in the union of the lower and the 
higher. Many are the pathways which lead to the 
Supreme, but all require an adoption of moral values. 
All pathways demand purification of the heart. ") 
Knowledge, power and bliss are but variable aspects 
of one divine essence, and that is Love. When it is 
realized that all knowledge is in consciousness, and 
that consciousness has its value in the emotions, it is 
readily seen that the perfection of knowledge and the 
perfection of consciousness is but the realization of 
the deepest and the highest and the greatest of all 
emotions, the emotion of love. But this love is dis- 
tinct from the ordinary conception and interpretation 
of love. It is transcendent, born in the empyrean 
of Self; it is beyond and beneath and inclusive of 
the loves which find their beginning and end in the 
personal. These truths "must be seen, heard, per- 
ceived and known." They must not rest in the soul 
as formulas of belief. The aspirant is through with 
belief. Direct perception and complete understand- 
ing form his ambition. The moral is the soul of the 



174 Moral Eelations. 

sympathetic and the sympathetic is the soul of love. 
Sympathy means to feel with and it is in the feeling 
with the ideal, that the ideal is loved. It is beauti- 
fully told in the Upanishads, that nobody loves any- 
thing for its own sake, but for the sake of the Self, 
and the Self is the ideal at all times, in all condi- 
tions and in all places. For that Self all loves should 
be cherished; for that Self all morality should be 
cultivated. Morality for the sake of self-expansion, 
greater self-expression, greater self-unfoldment, these 
are first, fit and only motives. Freedom, infinite free- 
dom of will, infinite freedom of intelligence, infinite 
freedom of expression, are essential in the subordina- 
tion of the lower and the expression of the higher self. 
To responsibly express moral values, one must have 
absolute freedom. Otherwise where is duty, where 
responsibility ? How can anyone be held responsible 
for what he is compelled to do ? Where is either the 
merit or the demerit ? Morality has inspirational im- 
portance. Leading, as it does, to the purification of 
the elements which constitute personality, it conduces 
to the inflow of higher knowledge and spiritual in- 
struction. The density and materialism of the human 
elements cause spiritual ignorance and pursuit of the 
follies of the senses. Nothing great was ever accom- 
plished by the chase after sense phantoms. It is in 
the search either after the mental or the spiritual that 
the transmutation of lower orders has been carried 
on. Whatever progress we make is due to the exten- 
sion of mental over physical elements. The exten- 
sion of the psychic and spiritual will lead to far 



Moral Kelations. 175 

vaster vistas and greater achievements. The exten- 
sion of the mental has been at the expense and 
through the control of the physical. The physical is 
allied to the instinctive. The mental is associated 
with psychic and spiritual values. 

Morality is the spirit and the mother of progress. 
The social standards of the race are moral standards. 
They have developed through the suppression of 
lower instincts and tendencies. Truly, we are deeper 
than we know or appreciate. Our promptings are 
past our discernment, but ever and ever does the 
voice of truth reach through and through the soul. 
Sometimes perception is direct; sometimes it is 
clouded, taking the form of intuitions and impres- 
sions. Truth is the Paraclete of civilization, ever 
present and vivifying. Truth and the moral element 
co-exist. The former is the subjective aspect of the 
latter. This is the heroic and exalted conception of 
the relation of the human soul to morality. This is 
the annunciation of the promises of the Self within. 
The adjustment of personality to this high under- 
standing is the finality of effort. This is the truth 
which brings the mind into the clear light of the 
spiritual day, which brings it into the understanding 
and the true appreciation of spiritual power and con- 
sciousness. As it is, we are the glorifiers of our 
ignorance and smallness. The usual appreciation of 
morality is narrow and accustomed. The width of 
moral meaning must be further emphasized and with 
practice corresponding. 



THE LAW. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE LAW. 

In the various phenomena of nature we find an un- 
varying law of cause and sequence. Everything 
comes under the dispensation of this law, and upon 
it science and philosophy are founded. We reason 
from effect to cause and from cause to effect. This 
reasoning assures the fixedness and definiteness of 
natural purposes. We are convinced that everything 
is well, for there is nothing but comes under the 
dominion of the unchangeable and ever-present law of 
causation. Especially are we certain of the truth 
and the right in personal life, and in the progress and 
purpose of racial evolution. We are confident of the 
workings of this law, well knowing that our relations 
to it determine our progress. The law of causation is 
an axiom of reason. It precludes the existence of 
chance, the latter being only its indiscernible work- 
ings. The law is the essence of principle and truism. 
All things move and are by the law and their per- 
fection and final freedom come only through the law. 
The law is the principle of universal and impartial 
justice. Whatever occurs either of good or of evil 
comes under the predispositions of the law. That 
law is the potential source of phenomena, the reason 
for their existence, their development and final dis- 



180 The Law. 

solution. It is the conditioning factor of misery 
and joy, of pain and pleasure. The working of this 
law manifests in the evolution of planets and their 
humanities. Every man is a surety to himself. He 
lives within his capacity for achievement and noth- 
ing, save perversion of desire or blindness of intel- 
lect, can interfere with his development. 

The law is revered as well as feared, for it is a 
light as well as a darkness. It may rise as high as 
it may cast low. Within the operations of the law, 
man is a free agent. He can choose his conduct and 
determine the intellectual conclusions which form 
motive principles for conduct. The law is as ex- 
tensive as the universe is possible of development. 
It is the origin of phenomena and relative life. Be- 
yond relative life there is no law, for Spirit is beyond 
the senses and thought. All manifestation within the 
realm of the mind, or within the realm of matter 
is under the sway of law. The saving feature of this 
law is its evolutionary tendency. It has but one 
perspective, the perspective of hope and the vista of 
achievement. Ever busied with higher interests, it 
constantly moulds the nature of man into channels 
of developed expression. The upward course is tedi- 
ous and often discouraging, but the law brooks no 
difficulties and is conscious of no barriers. Filled 
with the purpose of perfection, it is one with perfec- 
tion, and its workings dispense in no way, other than 
that of perfection. Yet is the law nothing in essence 
separate from the nature of the soul. It is not that 
the law is one thine and the will of man another. 



The Law. 181 

They both are synthesized in a higher unity, the 
unity of that ancient and unknowable condition where 
consciousness, law, plurality and all things of relative 
origin pale into the all-embracing fulness of the 
Supreme. The law is the faithful distributor of 
merit and demerit. It takes cognizance of each 
thought and each word; it is the custodian of each 
act and desire. It discerns motives better than we; 
it knows inmost thoughts and the psychological foun- 
dation of all conscious activity. It knows, because 
it is conterminous with the performance of acts 
and the thinking of thoughts that form the various 
strata of tendencies and possibilities. The law is the 
moulder of disposition and character. It exists in 
the essence of personality, disposing it toward dif- 
ferent possibilities and limitations. We cannot too 
fully appreciate this activity. All that we are to-day 
is the fruit of past acts. That is rational. It can- 
not be otherwise. If all things proceed from given 
causes, then present personality is an effect of past 
personality. The effect is not different from the 
cause. Cause and effect are one. It is our perpetual 
method of looking at things in the light of duality, 
which renders us incapable of discerning oneness in 
effect and cause. The effect is the manifestation of 
the invisible cause. The cause manifests, and in that 
manifestation is the effect. It is like the elongation 
of a cord from a dark into a lighted room. We can- 
not see the portion of the cord hidden by the dark- 
ness. We see only the portion which extends into the 
light. We understand that the extended portion is 



182 The Law. 

but the visible form of an invisible form. This 
reasoning applies to the entire world of phenomena. 
We see but the half of a given whole and pronounce 
the half a complete whole, losing sight of the invisible 
half. Scientific investigation and diligent research 
correct our earliest impression. We see new mean- 
ings in most ordinary and commonplace circum- 
stances and objects. In this newness of vision, intel- 
lectual depth and breadth are born. Narrowness of 
vision is the cause of narrowness of conduct and 
progress. Seeing both sides of a thing applies, not 
alone to moral and social understandings, but equally 
to the intricate problems which confront the mind 
and heart. There are times when the racial intelli- 
gence, or a portion of it, is prone to one-sidedness of 
vision. This fault leads to innumerable complexities, 
both social and religious. It is the drifting to "Dark 
Ages." With the advance of scientific progress and 
with liberty of thought, a new era is born, an era of 
discernment of law, order and truth. 

Law is truth, for it reveals truth. It is order, for 
it evolves and furthers order. It is justice, because it 
is the origin of justice. It is the containing element 
of all virtue and advancement, for it is the mother 
of evolutionary tendencies and emotions that are 
complements to high moral and religious concepts. 
Law is harmony, and in its menta-psychical connec- 
tions, the source of music and mathematics, for both 
these have their psychic origin in the relation of har- 
monies. We arc too human in our views; when we 
speak of law we apply it solely to social or moral 



The Law. 183 

problems. Law is universal in its activity and in- 
fluence. 

"In the beginning was the Word/' said the great 
Evangelist. It might, with equal appropriateness, 
be said : "In the beginning was the Law." There is 
nothing which does not vibrate within the circle of 
the law. This truth is the fact upon which the idea 
of universal brotherhood is based. There is nothing 
in the universe that does not stand in fraternal rela- 
tion to the rest of life. The law is the principle 
wherein all loves find their ideal, for it is the sus- 
taining spirit of all beauty and loveableness. All 
objects have their ideal in the law. Therefore it is 
the law which is worshipped and loved. Therefore 
it is the law to which all lives are earnestly adapting 
themselves. Knowingly or unknowingly the law is 
our love and our life. It is our all in all; it is the 
source and materialization of all hopes and ambi- 
tions. Many and glorious truths are herein implied ; 
for the realization of greatest realities keeps apace 
with obedience to the law. The law embodies the 
worthiest of hopes; it is the hope for the reward of 
individual efforts. The knowledge that we are in- 
debted to no one but ourselves is inspiring. We are 
the custodians and the directors of individual progress 
through the activity of the law. The essence of spir- 
itual law and consciousness is indistinguishable when 
the law is fulfilled and its mandates obeyed. Obedi- 
ence is not slavery to imperative decrees. It is the 
realization of the Self which is real, worthy of effort, 
the soul of this phantom self. The phantom self is 



184 The Law. 

unreal, and in this sense is bondage real. Each 
worthy deed and desire is a step placed by the law 
on which the weary traveller of life's journeys finds a 
saving foothold. There is no bondage if the law is 
discerned in the fulness of its activity. Bondage 
can only come through the ignorance of the lower 
self. The soul of man and the law live and move 
on the same plane. The personality is only relatively 
free. It is free as it unties the knot of ignorance and 
removes the veil which imposes falseness of vision. 
Personality is within the law. Without the pale of 
the law is the ever-free and ever-blessed Self. The 
spirit of man is not bound. 

Established within its inscrutable premises, the 
law determines the expression of all things. Many 
labor under the impression that the law is antagonis- 
tic. There is nothing more conducive to our interest 
than its fulfillment. Inasmuch as whatever we do 
is decreed by inevitable law, we know that we may 
direct the workings of the law to advantage. No one 
denies the right of choice. We can do as we wish, 
but, once having performed the deed, we are bound 
by it. In one sense, therefore, we are the makers of 
destiny. In another sense we are ruled by it. Past 
conduct determines present possibilities, tendencies 
to good and evil and to the different pursuits of life. 
If we possess possibilities we are only inheriting what 
is due us. This should serve as an excellent motive 
for work and development. No effort can be lost, for 
it has its proper relation in the development of per- 
sonality. We are worshipping ourselves when we 



The Law. 185 

attend to the best that is within us. This is the 
worship of the highest Self, the soul of personality; 
it is a closer approach to the innermost sanctuary of 
the soul, where Self eternally resides. Viewed in 
this light, many unimportant circumstances of life 
assume vital importance. Commonplace tasks are 
elevated beyond their accepted meaning, and become 
sacred in character and practice. The law reaches 
its upward way in spirals. Every endeavor, however 
small, is a reaching out to the highest Self. Each 
conformity with the law is an effort at uniformity of 
existence, and this uniformity is the soul of the 
highest Self. The highest religion and knowledge 
are embodied in personal adjustment to the activity 
of the law. Then the law loses all its terrors and be- 
comes the kindest of helpers on that upward path 
which all must climb. 

Circumstances never alter cases. It is we who 
alter circumstances. True it is, that each man carves 
out his individual destiny. Each man is the orig- 
inator of all that occurs in his life. These ideas hold 
the charm which misery sometimes bears. Misery is 
often like the dull earth hiding precious ore. Erom 
inharmonious circumstances wonderful results are 
frequently obtained. Fortune can never defeat us. 
It may bear us to the ground; it may isolate us from 
friends and place us within the very midst of ene- 
mies, but it can never crush the soul for, Phoenix-like, 
it arises from the ashes of the past and, re-entering 
the theatre of life, is prepared to meet new circum- 
stances and surroundings. Through misery, men fre- 



186 The Law. 

quently learn the art of life. The law in its workings 
is a teacher in disguise, ever having their highest 
interests at heart, ever at work effacing the lower and 
expressing the higher Self. Misery is the mother of 
many virtues. She is candid with us. Burdened 
with excess of good fortune, ambition becomes en- 
feebled and the soul is unfit to fulfil the duties for 
which life calls. Misery is the maker of the hero, of 
the soldier. "A character is formed," says Schiller, 
in the rush of the world." Misery, misfortune, sor- 
row, these and similar conditions give strength and 
character to personality. They call for the exercise 
of the energies of the soul. The greatest characters 
are those upon whom the greatest responsibilities and 
sorrows have fallen. Life is no playground; it is a 
field of action and of experience. A great devotee 
besought the Lord to give her nothing but sorrows, as 
sorrows made her ever mindful of Him. Similarly, 
the heroic soul welcomes the unpleasant things of 
life, mindful of the great spiritual gain and strength 
which come with the overcoming of obstacles. All 
great things are the fruit of pain. Birth is a sigh 
and death is a sigh. All things begin and end with a 
sigh. In that sigh the child of mind, the fruit of 
experience, is born. The fluctuations of sorrow are 
perpetual. Each soul has known death and sorrow 
many times, and each soul has thereby gained 
strength, individuality and knowledge. Life is a 
deep mystery, and the deepest of all mysteries is 
pain. We know it by its value as a teacher, but even 
pain is transient ; the law alone endures. Pleasure and 



The Law. 187 

pain are sources of experience, but, of the two, pain 
is the more real. Pleasure is a phantom. It never 
satisfies. It only feeds the flame of desire. In pain 
do all creatures move, and sorrow is the first of all 
truths which pave the Noble Way. The law is the 
fulfilment of hope. The law is the provider for its 
followers, even as the sun is the life of the earth, and 
the air, the provident element for flight of winged 
creatures. The law is the custodian of all things 
moved by law and all conditions are determined by 
its activity. The followers of the Path are ever pro- - 
vided with the needs of the material. The worldly- 
inclined do not appreciate this providence of the 
law, but the eminent of soul and the discriminating 
of mind know that the lily of the field is clothed in 
its spotless magnificence through the law. The 
material man centers his surety in financial holdings, 
but the spiritual man places his security in those 
treasures which are beyond any perishing. 

Spirit is the principle moving the wheel of the 
law, therefore its dispensations and fruitage are, 
directly or indirectly, of the highest spiritual char- 
acter. The law reaches through the individual, 
bringing him into rarer and rarer associations with 
ideas and circumstances of spiritual value. It gradu- 
ally relates him to the highest Self, for the law is 
the manifestation of the wisdom and the glory and 
power of the highest Self. In the highest Self, all 
things are centered. It is there that all conditions of 
relative meaning and manifold character find unity 
and value. Spirit is the sustainer and the consoler 



188 The Law. 

of this transient sojourn. The law is appreciative of 
the uses of sorrow. Sorrow is but a dark, foreboding, 
passing cloud in the clear summer's sky of life. If 
it gathers, it gives birth to the storm, but rain is the 
blessing of the fields. Thus, in the wisdom of the 
law, sorrow crosses the path of the aspirant to 
strengthen and spiritualize. Through all the varia- 
tions of the law the mind should be self-centered, 
knowing full well that both sorrow and joy have pur- 
pose and value in the upbuilding and strengthening 
of character; and character is the goal of all effort. 
Personification has been the chief factor in symbol- 
ism and, therefore, we find the law personified. 

Law is the embodiment of all principle. Involved 
in matter and in ignorance, the soul must abide by 
the dispensations of a working power emanating from 
the soul and at oneness with its very nature. The 
soul, under the thraldom of finality, must reassert its 
pristine condition of holiness, purity and spiritual 
consciousness. Nothing but the soul can bind the 
soul. The things which we regard as binding the 
soul are only so many variations of the soul acting 
upon itself. This is the symbolism of the law, the 
soul asserting or declining to assert the truth concern- 
ing its spiritual nature. In assertion is strength, 
evolution and final realization. In declining to as- 
sert is weakness, misery, ignorance, re-birth and the 
continual fluctuations of the tides of existence. Un- 
known and unknowable is the nature of the soul ; un- 
known and unknowable is the nature of the law. 
Beyond causation, beyond this universe, the soul loses 



t 



The Law. 189 

manifestation, and beyond manifestation law is non- 
existent. 

The law is not easy of comprehension. Multiform 
are its activities which baffle understanding. So 
many truths seem self-contradictory and at variance 
with justice and wisdom, so that we often question 
the existence of law. Dullness of comprehension, 
however, accompanies incipient relations of the mind 
to spiritual wisdom. Life is strange in its mani- 
festations. On the one hand we find inestimable 
values, and on the other facts and factors discordant 
with the significance of the former. That is why 
theologians attribute unaccountable and incompre- 
hensible conditions to the decrees of providence. At 
times, however, they have been so apparently unjust 
that even the most resigned became incredulous. The 
indiscernible is not the workings of chance. Even 
the most haphazard experience is an accurate work- 
ing of the law. Coincidences have similarity and 
reasonableness of origin in their mental causes. 
There, the most fortuitous conditions are determined 
according to necessities. There, the reality of the 
most incredible experiences is to be found. That 
which is passing is only an image of a substantial 
ideal. The seeming impossibilities of the world of 
form are the actualities of the world of mind. The 
materially unattainable is the spiritually feasible. 
Suddenness and unevenness of conditions in this 
phase of being may have slow and mathematical be- 
ginnings in another phase of existence. The injus- 
tice of so-called fate is the highest justice of the law. 



190 The Law. 

In life we find persons of unspeakable wickedness 
and of greatest unworthiness favored with riches, 
with social, political or other worldly distinctions. 
Such apparent contradictions of a principle attrib- 
uted with wisdom and justice are sorely puzzling. 
Many loosen their spiritual hold, blinded by the 
surface expression of the law, which cannot be en- 
tirely connoted on account of psychic impulses reach- 
ing far beyond any seeming accord with present cir- 
cumstances. 

Grains of wheat have been found in the crypts of 
the pyramids lying imprisoned for centuries and cen- 
turies in the darkness and lifelessness of the tomb. 
Those very grains have been taken from their accus- 
tomed surroundings, placed in the ground, favored 
with sunshine and rain and, lo, the fruitage, after 
thousands of years of inactivity! Our lives are 
formed of psychic constituents, psychic grains, as it 
were, many of which are in potential existence for in- 
numerable years. The time is not ripe for their 
expression, but when the time comes the personality 
will be affected. That personality is only a ray of 
the individual who, in times long past, expressed a 
personality that formulated the psychic impulses 
which some personality of the future must express. 
Our conscious life is only a white light in a dark 
background of indefinite subconscious life that de- 
veloped its fulness through numberless past lives. 
The conscious elements subside, become fine and 
potential. Many of these elements cannot become 
active in immediately future lives. Their force is 



The Law. 191 

dormant for aeons, until in some distant future and 
under proper conditions they become kinetic, bearing 
fruit. We may to-day generate psychic impulses 
which cannot reach the apex of expression either in 
this or in several lives to come, but, like grains of 
wheat in the Egyptian pyramids, the appropriate 
time comes and the blessing, or curse, of past acts 
falls upon the individual. Our present personality 
represents the potential elements of the subconscious 
self at the end of a past life. By strengthening the 
most representative of these elements, we choose the 
characteristics of the next manifestation. By dwarf- 
ing our present possibilities through inaction, we limit 
our next life to the expression of those psychic ele- 
ments, which were of secondary force and signifi- 
cance at the close of the life past. And so in ratio. 
This is the spiritual science and reason of morality 
and it shows the necessity of realizing the best that is 
within us. This is the substance of philosophy. The 
soul is to itself what the law is to the personality, 
the arbiter of manifestation and progress. In the 
effort of the soul the highest activities of the law 
are embodied. This effort assumes highest propor- 
tions and most pregnant possibilities when it is un- 
selfish, when it fulfils the law for the sake of the 
law. Then it expresses itself in work for the sake of 
work. So long as the soul identifies itself with the 
variations of the work with which it comes into rela- 
tion, so long must it bear the good or evil fruits. De- 
sire conditions the union of the personality with the 
fruits of its work. Desire identifies the mind with 



192 The Law. 

its objects. Mind and object become one. Desire 
produces desire, and, desire recreated, enslaves the 
mind and produces bondage. The law is the instru- 
ment through which this identification and the 
method of its expression is established. The law is 
the wake of the soul's manifestation and also the 
path. It is the wake, because it judges the nature 
and activity of the doings of the soul ; it is the path, 
because the doings of the soul have future relations, 
and these relations become the path of that future 
life which the soul must tread. The law is relative. 
It is one with that which changes, one with the ris- 
ings and the fallings of birth and death. Causation, 
space and time are the avenues of its expression, and 
these three are perpetually conditioned. That which 
is swept before the all-powerful law is the personal- 
ity. It changes with the changes which the law 
includes. It rises with birth, and it sinks with 
death. It soars with the pleasing circumstances of 
life, and it falls with the displeasing. The teaching 
follows, that personality is of relative importance, 
the essential value resting with the spiritual indi- 
vidual of which the personality is a shadow. This 
individual is instructed with regard to the inherent 
sacredness and divinity of his nature, with regard to 
his freedom from instability and change. The 
shadow of personality has, of itself, no redeeming 
qualities of permanence, no glory and no immortality. 
The individual is instructed that he is sufficient to 
himself. In this respect the law is the supreme 
teacher, the omniscient and the holy one. Truly, law 



The Law. 193 

is principle and the Supreme is impersonal, but each 
may be personalized and spoken of as personally 
existent, personally active and personally responsive 
to the cry of the soul. The light of this idea enables 
us to speak of the law as the supreme teacher, because 
its activities are to the soul what the ministrations 
of a teacher are to the mind of the student. Thus, 
even the stones and the brook are our teachers, as 
the master-poet Shakespeare has said. In and be- 
yond the circumscriptions of temporal life, in and 
beyond the life of change and relativity, the law is 
operative as the highest teacher, for its ultimate ac- 
tivity leads the soul into the acceptance of the su- 
preme wisdom and more especially into the practical 
value of such wisdom, in beauty and divinity of char- 
acter. The modulations of physical energy, the dis- 
tinctions of material form and environment have 
their respective value in the unfoldment of the su- 
preme activity of the law. The universal energy is, 
therefore, often represented as deity in manifesta- 
tion, as law in manifestation. The meanest thing has 
its position on the upward way. The stupendous 
rock formations of mountains, apparently of relative 
spiritual worth, form the manifesting condition of 
sublimest beings. Yet the molecular elements of 
rock, in themselves, are low in the order of spiritual 
evolution, for "the Spirit is asleep in the stone." 
The law must be understood to be perfect under all 
circumstances. Its saving character and developing 
tendency manifests in the lowest of things. The ulti- 
mate achievement of this developing tendency is the 



194 The law. 

perfection of the finite manifestation of Spirit, the 
revelation of omniscience and omnipotence. Thus 
do we see our brother in the stone and in the sun, 
maintain harmony in personal affairs, and assist 
the harmony of the social and spiritual orders. 
It is for this, that our hearts are glad at the marvel- 
lous revelations of life. It is for this, that in the 
nature of the soul we are artists, for we appreciate 
the masterpieces of the Greatest of Artists, the om- 
nipotent Spirit. That Spirit is the Self within, the 
immortal, the ever perfect, the ever blessed, the 
author and sustainer and unfolder of all beauty, 
whether material or spiritual. 

The argosies which sail on the sea of infinite exist- 
ence in the quest of infinite knowledge are many, but 
noblest of all are those which bear the crew who have 
sought the depth of depths and have found the path 
which leads out of the shoreless sea into the haven of 
infinite peace. Out of the darkness, out of the night 
and out of the storm and havoc of material distress, 
out of the night of ignorance and beyond the rocks 
of rebirth, shines the golden sun of truth. Open thy 
radiance, O Sun! Shine forth, for thy light is not 
different from that light which shines in the soul! 
Thy light and our light is one. The ship of safety 
which carries the mind into the harbor of wisdom is 
the law which wots of the darkness; the law which 
is of the radiance of the Sun of truth. That sublime 
port is the redemption of the individual; it is the 
sinking of the cargo of personality, a burdensome 
freight retarding the passing of the ship of the law. 



The Law. 195 

To the law be glory without end and reverence ever- 
lasting. Unto the law must all wills bow. Unto the 
law must all do homage, for the law is the redeemer 
of the world. The greatest argument for the exist- 
ence of the law is its absolute justice. In the slightest 
variations of proportions the law is divinely just. 
Nothing which comes to the individual, but is his. 
Nothing can befall him, but what he deserves. Noth- 
ing can come into his experience, but that he has 
attracted it. The mind is like a loadstone. Even as 
the loadstone gathers to itself the iron filings, so the- 
individual mind accrues the external counterpart of 
the things it desires. All is within the individual. 
The external is only the projection, the manifestation 
of that which already is. The reward has its prior 
existence in the good deed, in meritorious thought 
and desire, even as punishment, sorrow and pain 
have their origin in previous inharmonies of conduct. 
This is the philosophical idea of reward and punish- 
ment. Orthodox conceptions teach belief in eternal 
reward or punishment for the performance of finite 
acts. Such a theory is nonsensical on its very face. 
The discriminating philosopher relegates it to the 
class of superstitions which have for ages played 
havoc with the mind of man, engendering many and 
varied forms of religious insanity and finding ex- 
pression in dwarfed personality. The activity of the 
law is paramount in justice. Those who adhere to 
foolish belief do so by the affliction of the law which 
visits them in this form. People with such beliefs 
pass from this life into the psychic spheres where they 



196 The Law. 

realize that their beliefs had no basis in fact. Those 
who believe themselves guilty of "eternal damna- 
tion," whose minds have been impressed with the 
hideous monstrosities of infernal images, for a time 
experience the torture of this nightmare. It is the 
manifestation of the law which they have attracted. 
Others pass from this life into the roseate hue of 
heavenly images and hopes, only to find that this uni- 
verse is a universe of progression, that there is no 
eternal standing-still in sublime perfection as the re- 
sults of good conduct. So long as personality en- 
dures, so long will the soul be goaded on by the 
relentless activity of the law. The soul must 
advance; it cannot be idle. Before it lie indefi- 
nite possibilities for unfoldment. Before it lies 
the problem of existence, and that problem, to- 
gether with many other problems of spiritual 
character, must be solved. The soul must penetrate 
within the deepest constituencies of Self. The quest 
for knowledge will take it through repeated exist- 
ences and repeated experiences until "truth is seen, 
heard, perceived and known." The law is complement 
to the soul. We cannot think of the one without 
thinking of the other. The law is related to all the 
activities of the soul. The soul is causal in its activ- 
ity, in which respect it is positive. As the recipient 
of the fruits of its activities, it is passive. The asso- 
ciative factor in this connection is the law. The dis- 
pensations of the law are, as it were, separate from 
the activities of the soul. They appear to precede or 
follow, but in reality they are co-existent with the 



The Law. 197 

manifestations of personality. The soul manifests, 
and in the manifestation is law. Law and the activ- 
ities of the soul are one. The soul, in its divine real- 
ity, however, is beyond the operations of the law. It 
is only in a relative sense that the soul and the law 
are identical. In the realm of finiteness the soul and 
the law associate. Both are within the boundaries of 
this universe of causation, but that which is beyond 
this universe is Self and Self, therefore, is beyond 
law. The assertion of Self is thus the most exalted 
and necessary of duties. The worship of Self is the 
highest religion. The pursuit of the understanding 
of Self is the greatest of tasks. In the realization 
of the highest Self, the law is realized. The attitude 
taken by the individual to the law involves the great- 
est responsibility. As he wisely discriminates or 
chooses illy, the fluctuations of the law carry him to 
exalted heights or cast him into the throes of perdi- 
tion. The law is the law of retrogression as well as 
of progression. It lies with the law to uplift beyond 
the present into the empyrean of truth, or to cast 
down into the darkest darkness, into the deep abyss 
of retrogression. So many facts and circumstances 
hinge, one upon the other. The performance of a 
single act of righteousness has its collective value on 
surroundings, and the doing of a wrong act reaches 
out beyond the personal aura, affecting the lives of 
others. It is not only ourselves we have to consider 
in the performance of actions, but the entire field of 
our influence. The responsibility is not alone per- 
sonal, but extends to others. If a man should retire 



198 The Law. 

to the mountain fastnesses, nevermore coming into 
contact with civilization, yet should he think one 
great thought, or perform one great act the influence 
would radiate beyond the confines of space, and touch 
some great soul who would communicate the spirit 
of the thought or of the act to the world. The law 
reaches out beyond the limitations of space and time. 
It carries its potency with the current of psychic 
motion. Thought, the influence of deeds and the 
value of desire are not conditioned by physical form 
or force. Being of the nature of mental substances 
and activity, they come under the vibrations of su- 
persensuous and sensibly imperceptible motion. The 
conditions of mind are not regulated by the visible 
conditions of form. The psychic currents of thought 
are superior to the power and the motion of physi- 
cal vibrations. Thought is the dominating vibration, 
initiating the impulse of evolution and civilization. 
Thought disposes personal tendencies in their physi- 
cal relation. Thought, constituting the soul of con- 
duct, and conduct determining the physical expres- 
sion of the soul of conduct, the result of conduct pre- 
serves or undermines physical health. That which 
cements the soul of conduct or thought with result 
to the physical frame is the law of causation, the law 
of compensation. The law is appreciative only of 
the soul. Form is relative and the law is unsparing 
of form. Form is the condition of expiation. It 
is as the inhabitant of the body that we suffer the 
bitter experience of demerit. In psychic life, after 
death, the soul has the opportunity of transforming 



The Law. 199 

past acts into the possibilities and tendencies of a 
life to come. Here is work, here the performance of 
duty, here the working out of the fruit of past acts, 
the development of tendencies and possibilities. The 
proper working out of present tendencies and possi- 
bilities determines the possibilities and the tenden- 
cies, the talents and the genius of the next manifesta- 
tion; their misuse increases limitations, mars the 
area of activity and possibility of present talents, so 
that the next life will be far less in potential evolu- 
tion. 

The law is positive in its activity during earthly 
life, passive in its activity after earth life. The law 
is the measure of individual perfection. It places 
personalities in relation to other personalities. It 
shifts circumstances and conditions, but the goal of 
its efforts and the significance of its activity is the 
development, the accentuation, the realization of in- 
dividuality; and the realization of true individuality 
is the realization of supreme truth, the truth that 
"all that exists is one," the truth that there is but one 
Supreme Individual, who is the soul of the souls of 
all animate and inanimate objects. Color and light, 
form and beauty are the variations of finite life, 
lending appearance of reality to things unreal. They 
constitute the illusion which emphasizes form and 
the needs of form, which considers the mind and its 
innumerable desires and idiosyncracies of emotion 
and understanding. They blind the mortal eye to the 
color and the light and the form and the beauty of 
higher realms. The growth and perfection of indi- 



200 The Law. 

viduality is the object of the law. For a time it 
presents the personality with the closeness of an- 
other personality, but it is only that both separately 
develop through mutual influence. The individuality 
reaches higher degree of expression through asso- 
ciation. This thought gives a true appreciation of 
the meaning and the influence of friendship. It 
gives a new value to friendship and exalts it beyond 
its limited and accustomed understanding. Who are 
our friends ? Those who are bound by the ties of 
affection? Affection is often a garb of disguise con- 
cealing selfishness. The individual may not be con- 
scious of this disguise, but a little reflection into the 
nature of his feelings and conduct frequently leads 
to self-accusation and the consciousness of selfish 
attitudes. Friendship has its basis in common need. 
It has its influence and value in the development of 
mind and character. Appreciation of talents, of pos- 
sibilities, of characteristics of conduct is the vital 
bond. We need but consider the sustaining element 
in our associations to learn the reason why they are, 
and why they persist. It is sameness of ideals and 
sameness of appreciation. In true friendships, 
though there is often separation through incompati- 
bilities of temper, there is never a loss of apprecia- 
tion. When friendship has its source in the feelings 
or desires, it is short-lived, selfish in expression, and 
finally dies; but friendship based on artistic, on 
philosophical, on educational, on literary, on musi- 
cal appreciation, friendship based on excellent qual- 
ities of conduct, lives on and on, though separated by 



The Law. 201 

years and great distance. Emotional misunderstand- 
ings, though they may separate friends, never dimin- 
ish their mutual appreciation. This is because 
development has come through the association. With 
the help of friends we reach beyond ourselves, dis- 
cover truths or possibilities concerning our nature of 
which we should otherwise never dream. We can no 
more separate the personality of our friends from 
our life than we could, or would, separate from our 
life the development experienced through them. 
"Friends in need are friends indeed" is true in a 
material sense, but this proverb is of vaster truth 
in a mental and a psycho-spiritual sense. Material 
things are of assistance to the wants of the material. 
Spiritual values are of incomparably greater import- 
ance. Man may die from physical inanition, but 
this death is naught in comparison with the death, 
darkness and ignorance following in the wake of 
mental and spiritual inanition. What befalls the 
body, or its needs, is only a minor sorrow and loss, 
but the happenings to the mind and heart in perver- 
sion of emotions is the greatest of losses. With 
this idea in mind, the Christ said: "What doth it 
profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his 
immortal soul?" 

Poverty is the maker of men and also the maker 
of spiritual heroes. One of the dangers of wealth 
is the possibility of unlimited satisfaction of desires. 
Satisfaction inflames and renews desire. The great- 
est beggar is he whose needs are most. His mind is 
ever in the beggar's frame. What is out of the reach 



202 The Law. 

of possession is generally out of the reach of desire. 
This is the value of renunciation; though a man 
be possessed of boundless wealth, though his rai- 
ment be magnificent and his fare sumptuous, if he 
remains unattached to these things, he has truly 
renounced the vanities of existence. A man labor- 
ing under the most trying poverty, if his mind is 
burdened with desires, is more miserable through 
his desires than through his needs. The attitude of 
mind is the determinating factor. The saint, though 
surrounded with things material, attaches no value to 
them. The worldly-minded, though in the throes of 
ill fortune, sets his heart on the things beyond his 
gaining. The law first develops the material and 
then the mental. It is the mental development which 
is the triumph of the law, the initiatory impulse to 
the perfection of mind, to the realization of its pow- 
ers, to the perfection of the soul and the realization 
of its divinity. The mind is the containing element 
and measure of material things. We must try to 
search beneath the surface of the material and appre- 
ciate the mental qualities. It is these that determine 
the essence of conduct. If we do this, we will fre- 
quently find that apparently questionable conduct is 
perfect in meaning. The intention being good the 
value of the deed, though often the symbol of unde- 
veloped understanding, must be accordingly weighed. 
We must not too quickly condemn. The law considers 
the value of conduct and comprehends the inner men- 
tal significance. It understands the motive princi- 
ples of desire. It is mindful of limitations of intelli- 



The Law. 203 

gence, and rewards or punishes in just ratio to the 
understanding of right and wrong. Justice and 
mercy are the co-existing features of the law. We 
have been asking a personal God to forgive us our tres- 
passes, when no trespass can be forgiven or forgotten 
in the final sense. Wrong conduct and limited ex- 
pression of the past, inversion of possibilities must 
be eradicated by right conduct in the future, and / 
by developing advantages and talents. We have 
sinned against our own nature, and it is we alone 
who can forgive ourselves. We have buried our tal- 
ents in the ground, and we must consequently suffer 
the penalty of loss. We have wasted our possibilities, 
and we must accept consequent limitations. We are 
| the doers or the undoers of our fortune. 

It is good to bear in mind the values of life and 
the meaning of experiences. It is good to appreciate 
our friends, not in an emotional sense as much as in 
a consideration of their developing influence in our 
lives. It is good to appreciate the resurrecting influ- 
ence of misfortune. It is good to weigh fortune in 
the balance so that we are not overcome by pleasure 
and the satisfaction of desire; so that in the end we 
are not the victims of the follies of the senses. All 
things which rise, fall. All things which reach a 
climax, descend. This is particularly true of mate- 
rial circumstances. To-day we are in the rush of ma- 
terial progress; to-morrow we are the victims of our 
own shortcomings. It is we who direct the mental 
currents that express themselves in physical gain 
or loss. Hope, boundless hope, is our guiding star 



204 The Law. 

in this ocean of life and that hope is the spirit of the 
law. 

Nothing which comes into existence, nothing 
which is associated with our experience, no event 
which takes place, but is the sequence of the law. 
From the molecule to the vastest sun, from the mi- 
nute, structureless amoeba to the most spiritual being, 
and the most cultured intelligence, this law is opera- 
tive. All are governed equally and impartially. 
Obedience ensures safety; disobedience entails mis- 
ery. In the complex situations of life, thought and 
action, in all the experiences of an individual, of a 
community, of a nation, of an age, of a humanity, 
the law of cause and effect holds. The operation of 
this law is as much a mystery as is birth, death or 
life. No one knows why a cause must become an 
effect, or why an effect, in turn, must become the 
cause of another effect. The scientist in his search 
for knowledge, the philosopher in his inquiry for 
truth, the advanced spiritual person in his constant 
longing for spiritual bliss and Deity, must come to 
the origin, to the root and manifesting cause. The 
effect then is traced, and the path by which the cause 
was learned is corroborated. Each day we generate 
innumerable causes and reap the effects of number- 
less causes generated, through our actions in the past. 
The actions of the present will become other causes 
to pursue us, either for happiness or misery. 

Thoroughly imbued with these thoughts, we will 
endeavor to renovate our character, and thus gain 
a transcendent attitude toward life, a deeper insight 



The Law. 205 

into many things hitherto unappreciated. We will, 
in a somewhat better way, understand the relations 
and responsibilities we bear to ourselves, to our sur- 
roundings and to all those with whom we come in 
contact. We will realize the all-importance of con- 
duct, the sterling and lasting qualities of good deeds, 
the evil and the misery of wrong-doing. Our daily 
experience teaches us that the results of sin are pain, 
and if inverted acts, thoughts and words are per- 
sisted in, they will ultimately cause spiritual death 
even as the transgression of any of the natural laws, 
if carried on to any degree, will terminate in the 
decay and destruction of the body. We are likewise 
acquainted with the knowledge, that right living 
insures health, happiness and a form of bliss of which 
no one can deprive us. We know all these things, 
but the truth is we know them only theoretically. 
Practically, they are far removed from our lives. 
There is an ocean of difference between theoretical 
and practical knowledge. Practical knowledge is 
practical truth and the appreciation of the practical 
value of truth; practical knowledge is the proper 
adaptation of consciousness to the things of which 
practical knowledge informs us. Practical knowl- 
edge determines practical attitudes. No one knowing 
poisonous herbs consumes them. Spiritually ap- 
plied, practical knowledge is the full understanding 
of truths which for ages man has believed, and only 
partially realized. Volumes upon volumes have been 
written on spiritual facts. Learned disquisitions and 
treatises have been carried on and distributed, but 



206 The Law. 

still the average man remains lamentably ignorant of 
spiritual truths. They have no practical meaning in 
his life. They do not express themselves in conduct 
and in life, because they are not truly known and 
appreciated. Many flatter themselves that they alone 
know and are of the faith. But how far they miss 
the mark; how far beneath are they compared to 
the spiritual position they assume. In the face of the 
knowledge of the effects that will follow certain ac- 
tions, they nevertheless unconscientiously pursue 
them. In that respect man, of all breathing creatures, 
alone violates his intelligence and the principle of his 
existence by adopting a course of conduct in antagon- 
ism to the privileged understanding of the law. The 
beast is guided by its instinct and follows, with 
never-failing accuracy, the law of cause and effect, 
instinctively avoiding the things inimical to its 
growth and larger experience. The universe is con- 
trolled by law and the result is perfect harmony. 
Man alone, in spite of his added faculty of reason, 
violates his better knowledge to quell the fever of 
desire, or to satisfy some selfish and inordinate mo- 
tive. When that happens, he is out of harmony with 
the universe. Culture and the spirit of individual 
restraint have done much to control social life. Life 
is composed of numberless individual units. It is 
only through the development of the individual that 
any great degree of evolution can be expected. The 
race has developed according to evolutionary laws 
expressed through minds of men who have formulated 
national codes of law, or furthered the development 



The Law. 207 

and expression of ethical systems. The individual 
must grow, develop the area of expression, and en- 
large the width of moral and spiritual understanding. 
Even the greatest values have selfish motive power. 
Show people the value of being moral, the value of 
educating the mind to higher intellectual standards, 
show them the value of spiritual effort, the signifi- 
cance of spiritual truth, the scientific basis of faith 
and the ground for spiritual evolution, and there will 
be a noteworthy rise in the scale of racial develop- 
ment. It is hard to convert the individual to the 
idea that the sinking of private for larger interest is 
better for himself. Eeason even is selfish. We argue 
to our advantage, and reason in keeping with preju- 
dice. We will not see the open truth ; we blind our- 
selves to the truth which calls for the suppression of 
personal interests. In spite of selfish attitudes on 
the part of the individual, social advantages have 
been furthered. Self-protection and self -maintenance 
drew the individual into obedience to social and moral 
law. Selfish desires are crushed in the interest of 
hygiene, and so evolution continues, segregating and 
eliminating, coercing and freeing. This freedom and 
this coercion is the manifestation of the law in its 
social connection. This law must be obeyed, for 
obedience to the law is the furtherance of individual 
as well as social interest. Blindness of perception 
and density of understanding often lead the indi- 
vidual to rebel against social law, but rebellion is 
met by collective resistance. It is the law voicing 
its displeasure through human condemnation. There 



208 The Law. 

are many transgressions, however, which cannot be 
reached by human law, the social counterpart of the 
cosmic law. Such are secret thoughts of evil charac- 
ter, perverted desires and the sending forth of inhar- 
monious vibrations and influences. This manner of 
transgression is met by most active punishment. It 
is special and individual. 

The law brooks no refraction. This thought causes 
the soul to exult. Aspiration does not cease, because 
of the knowledge of the law. It is a thousand times 
increased. It is afforded larger vistas, vaster fields 
of expression, far greater areas of activity. The law 
is uniform and unifying; the law is Self-searching 
and Self-discovering. The law is the manifestation 
of and method for the realization of deity. It lifts 
from immeasurable depths to immeasurable heights. It 
raises from ignorance to enlightenment. The law, by 
its nature, is teacher and knowledge. Blessed is he 
who fears the law in the meaning of reverence and 
religious regard. The law is the truth, the way and 
the light, and all those who have realized Self are 
one with the law. "I am the Way, the Truth and 
the Light." They have trodden the Noble Way 
which is the path of the law. They have reached 
the end of knowledge and have realized the essence 
of truth. They have realized the glory of the light 
within, and are at oneness with the life and the light 
of the universe. 

In the law is peace. The aim of personal effort and 
evolution is peace, and peace consists in the harmoniz- 
ing of discordant vibrations of personality and in the 



The Law. 209 

adjustment of conflicting emotions. Peace is the res- 
toration of equilibrium, discord, the absence of equi- 
librium. Control is the method by which we may over- 
come conflicting conditions. Control is the practical I 
interpretation of knowledge ; knowledge the means by / 
which control is possible. Illumination of mind, 
strength of character, definiteness of purpose, culti- 
vation of lasting qualities are the results of control. 
ISTothing of worth can be accomplished through com- 
placent ease. Unselfish, selfless work is needed, with- 
out thought of compensation ; work because it is the 
avenue of development and path of expression. Work, 
because work is its own reward and because it en- 
larges the mental and psychic area, assuring power 
and dominion. The law is fulfilled through work, 
for, in the end, all work is spiritual as spiritual 
meaning is given it. It is spiritual as spiritual hope 
and aspiration are asociated with it. Suddhipam- 
haka, the illustrious follower of Buddha, realized the 
highest truth amid his menial duties of sweeping in 
a monastery. The lowest work is the greatest, when 
it is spiritualized. Power and knowledge await the 
patient toiler who consecrates his work. The law is 
the dispenser of the quality and character of the 
work. The individual will be given the opportunity 
to develop, and in the development is expression and 
growth. It is necessary to work along lines which 
are congenial, unless uncongenial work is unselfishly 
performed. Even through such work progression is 
possible. The law knows the needs of all. It accord- 
ingly disposes its activities in a suitable manner. In 



210 The Law. 

work, the body, the mind, the psychic element, all 
must have their proper sphere of usefulness. The 
body must not be ignored. It is of value to growth. 
The body must not be underfed, nor permitted to un- 
dergo austerities. The age of austerities is past. 
Only in certain individual instances may they be 
practiced. The body must be supported, so as to be 
able to diligently and serviceable perform the duties 
allotted it. Every mental condition has its physical 
import, and neither is to be over-emphasized, neither 
underrated. They have their respective value and, 
during the life incarnate, both the mental and the 
physical must be attended to before any perfect ex- 
pression is possible. We are out of the conditions 
where half-truths and half-values held sway. It is the 
time when everything has its appointed value. The 
whole man must be cultivated. Each and every pos- 
sibility must be considered and fully recognized as 
a developing factor. The desire element, the psychic 
element, the physical, the mental, the spiritual, all 
have theire sphere of import and utility. They must 
be developed, and that development is more especially 
furthered when the law of compensation becomes a 
fact in conscious experience and when its require- 
ments are fulfilled. 



THE SPIKIT OF CONTROL. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE SPIRIT OF CONTROL. 



This is an age of discovery. We are coming 
into the knowledge of truths, hitherto almost in- 
credible. It is an age of untiring research and 
of ponderous development. Evolution is in a pro- 
gressive whirl. Each month introduces some new 
discovery of import. The greatest and the most 
profound of these discoveries, however, are those 
that pertain to the exploration of the human mind. 
These discoveries are contained in that latest and far- 
from-accomplished science, psychology. We have had 
our Keplers and our Galileos in astronomy. We are 
to have them in psychology, for that science is still 
in its infancy. So much is still in the dark ; so much 
light must still be thrown on already known truths 
that but a small portion of psychological speculation 
is of practical benefit. Contemporaneous with the 
marvellous discoveries of psychological character has 
been the noteworthy rise and spread of religious cults 
whose doctrines embrace much of interest to the stu- 
dent. Psychology is the science which considers the \ 
activities of the mind, connotes the different phases ' 
of mental causation, and studies the relations be- 
tween the mind and the body. The Tatter part 
explains the cause and the removal of many phys- 



214 The Spirit of Control. 

ical infirmities, Laving purely a mental origin. It 
considers the cure of many distempers which the 
religio-psychological cults attribute to the credence 
and the following of their respective teachings. The 
hygienic and curative values of mind are established. 
They are no longer in the putative sphere for scien- 
tists of eminent repute recognize the value of men- 
tal therapeutics. The mind has been as scrutiniz- 
ingly observed and analyzed as the minute and 
microscopic facts on which chemistry is based. It is 
no longer speculative but empirical knowledge which 
substantiates theory. Facts are wanted, and theories 
are swept aside if they fail of practical application. 
Modern philosophies are founded on the empiricism 
of known quantities. The study of the powers and 
faculties of the mind is now the principle of sciences ; 
first, because it considers the most important of all 
phenomena which may come under human observa- 
tion and arouse human interest; second, because it 
exploits the most powerful and finest of forces, the 
force of mind. This last reason is not as yet fully 
appreciated. Appreciation can come only when suf- 
ficient facts are discovered that will awaken the 
soul of man to the knowledge of the truths which 
they infer. 

We have stumbled on numerous discoveries which 
evidently prove the immortality of the soul, but, as 
material skepticism is ever in the foreground of 
human thought, even these significant discoveries 
have been passed by. Guided in their reasoning by 
the tangible and the sensibly perceptible, most men 



The Spirit of Control. 215 

cannot think beyond the body. They cannot under- 
stand the existence of forces and forms beyond the 
senses. The senses are the deceivers of the mind. In 
tellectual growth and scientific achievement have de- 
veloped only in spite of the senses. The senses in 
themselves are limitations. Beyond their limited 
area of activity they err. Eeason has advanced the 
human mind and unchained the fetters of ignorance 
of the senses. Eeason has corrected impressions of 
the size and form of the heavenly bodies and revealed 
the existence of the finer physical forces, such as 
electricity. Eeason has developed the conception and 
discovery of mental forces, influences and vibrations, 
of the power of mind, its potent physical relation and 
of the survival of mental forms and forces at the dis- 
solution of their physical counterparts. Psychology 
has been the method of this super-perception which 
assures us of the reality and the all-importance of the 
soul. Psychology, continuing its persistent investiga- 
tion, will increase this super-perception and discover 
facts making us sensible of the dignity and divinity 
of human life, and of the immortality of the essence 
we call the soul. They will prove incentives to the 
development of character, for in the light of immor- 
tality and truth there is meaning and nobility to 
effort. The sun of truth and light shall dawn, and 
the soul have a glimpse of its nature. The difference 
between efforts, stimulated by this knowledge, and 
efforts stimulated by semi-credence, is as distinct as 
the light of the day from the darkness of night. 

The soul cannot truly exert itself, save through a 



216 The Spirit of Control. 

proper motive. For ages past, the religious theories 
of the world have been adhered to with only minor 
intelligence and with scarcely any rational basis of 
belief. That is why we have half-religions and sec- 
tarianism. That is why there have been so few who 
have realized the truth of religion, the essence of their 
soul, and the hidden powers and faculties of the 
mind. From time immemorial, man has been taught 
to believe in signs and symbols savoring of the mirac- 
ulous. With the advent of intellectual freedom and 
religious tolerance, and with the coming of scientific 
truth, these religious beliefs were thrown overboard. 
Half the world came to believe them ridiculous and 
unworthy of mention or investigation. With the 
evolution of psychology, facts more wonderful than 
the wildest religious fancies and relating to the nature 
and power of the mind were circulated. It is said 
that even in the most flighty myth there is a relation 
to some fundamental fact. This is true. The human 
mind cannot conceive the absolutely inconceivable; 
it cannot imagine the absolutely impossible. The 
mind is a fact in nature and cannot perceive facts 
which have no definite connection with nature. There- 
fore, in the speculations of theology, in the dreams of 
philosophies, in the vagaries of folk-lore, in the fan- 
cies of poetry, in the exaggerations of mythologies, in 
the superstitions of legends, in the imaginations of 
sacred literature, is the all-permeating truth, how- 
ever feebly expressed and dimly perceived. The mind 
is not satisfied with its own findings, and through that 
dissatisfaction the imagination is born. The imag- 



The Spirit of Control. 217 

ination is only a partial manifestation of a faculty 
greater and more equipped in the pursuit of knowl- 
edge, the faculty of intuition, or, as it is more com- 
monly called, inspiration. There is more than one 
method of perceiving the truth. Just as the material 
sciences developed the telescope and the microscope, 
and the different measurements whereby the senses 
are assisted in the observation of phenomena, so the 
spiritual and menta-psychical sciences develop means 
whereby the natural faculties of reason and of the 
senses are assisted in the perception and observation of 
phenomena beyond the rational and the sensible. As 
there is a mile beyond the mile on which we tread, and 
knowledge beyond our present understanding, so there 
is motion, form and force beyond our ordinary per- 
ception. These motions, forms and forces, composed 
of rarer substances and vibrations, are perceived only 
by enlarging the natural area of physical vision, 
hearing and feeling. The conditions by which this is 
accomplished are purely psychic and, for a true ap- 
preciation of them, a perfect knowledge of practical 
psychology is necessary. It is good to peruse the 
speculations of university professors, but it is better 
to personally investigate. Our knowledge is all sec- 
ond-hand. We accept credit-worthy inferences of 
others, but such acceptance is not knowledge; it is 
merely belief. We must know before we can evolve. 
All evolution depends on the development of mind 
and feeling. That development will be neglected, if 
it has no other stimulus than belief. Furthered by 
knowledge, each stimulus to conduct is powerful; 



218 The Spirit of Control 

each effort at development a powerful effort; each 
research and investigation, deep and fruit-hearing. 
We must equip the mind with knowledge. What men 
know is the criterion of what they are. So in spiritual 
matters the mind must know. It cannot accept the 
researches of others as final. Nothing is imperative 
or absolutely authoritative. No one is infallible. 
What we ourselves discern, that we term knowledge. 
There is the knowledge of direct perception ; there is 
the knowledge which comes through inference. One 
is empirical, the other speculative. Yet the speculat- 
ive is so intimately related to the empirical that, when 
both are earnestly and capably furthered, they have 
an equal basis in fact. The speculative is the sub- 
jective element of practical knowledge. We call those 
external features of nature which we see and feel the 
realities, and our knowledge and classification of 
them constitutes empiricism, but the borderland of 
the empirical is limited. Reviewing the development 
of the science of chemistry we perceive the progress it 
has made in the direction of psychology. We now 
have instruments disclosing the physical associations 
of mental states. We have instruments which meas- 
ure the force and duration of menta-psychical vibra- 
tions. This progress continues with startling prom- 
ises. There is such a thing as the soul of a word, and 
when we are in touch with it w T e get the full meaning. 
As example, take the word soul. Its accepted mean- 
ing is narrow, but in those ecstatic moments when 
things spiritual are consciously appreciated, the w r ord 
soul rises to a fuller importance. The word limita- 



The Spirit of Control. 219 

tion approximates true significance, when we realize 
what personality is. Personality is an infinitesimal 
projection of the whole individual. The whole in- 
dividual is in the psycho-spiritual background. The 
projected personality is burdened with the limita- 
tions of natural law. It is bound to externalize all 
things. It can never come closer to outer phenomena 
than their surface appearance, but all things have a 
subjective as well as an objective reality. The sub- 
jective reality is the soul of the objective. Accus- 
tomed to externalities, we accredit them with their 
surface meaning. In reality, however, it is the 
subtile essence, which constitutes the soul of the 
phenomena, be they mental or physical. A flower is 
the manifestation of a subtile essence which mani- 
fests in the form of flower. Personality is but a 
conditioned manifestation of something beyond per- 
sonality. The world is a world of effects, that is, the 
world which presents itself to sense perception, but 
there is a causal even as there is a physical world. 
The cause is first in existence and first in reality, 
but the inversion of the mind, its disposition to view 
all things in their external relation, in their existence 
as effects, precludes the perception of inner values, 
of causal realities, of subjective phenomena. The 
soul and the true essence and reality of all things 
must \e perceived, before the mind can liberate itself 
from the thraldom of material limitations caused by 
ignorance of supersensuous truth. If personality is 
but an effect, it is the duty to go beyond this effect 
and identify Self with the cause. That cause is the 



220 The Spirit of Control. 

true individual. Its realization is the discovery of 
the nature of the mind and is the consciousness of the 
true and immortal individual. It is difficult to perceive 
the things which move with extraordinary swiftness. 
This world of effects is slow in motion and develop- 
ment. The psychic and mental sphere of causes is 
spontaneous in expression, rapid in growth, and thus 
relatively changeless, relatively permanent. A 
bucket of water whirled with great swiftness and 
force loses none of its contents. Slowly whirled, it 
cannot hold the water. This is an illustration of the 
activities in the world of causes and in the world of 
effects. Propelled with less force and less motion, 
the world of effects has comparatively less gravitative 
force, less adhesive qualities, and thus it is more 
especially a world of change, of decomposition, of 
death, of impermanence. The causal world is a world 
of mental vibrations, moving with great celerity. Its 
forms are of finer substance ; its vibrations, of purer 
and more extensive character. That is why the spir- 
itual element of man is immortal, beyond physical 
dominion, though not altogether beyond physical in- 
fluence. We must remember that the world of phe- 
nomena is only the manifestation of the world of 
noumena. 

Keason will support us. When we are aware that 
anything is reasonable a conscious appreciation devel- 
ops. When a thing is reasonable, consciousness soon 
adapts itself. In other words, if we are convinced 
that anything is true, we will relate ourselves to it in 
feeling. Thus, intelligence and consciousness are 



The Spirit of Control. 221 

indelible. Ideas have motive power only as they are 
associated with the emotions. All physical activities 
are complementary to instinctive intelligence; for 
what is now instinctive was previously in the area of 
judgment and reason. This instinctive life can be 
restored within that area. There are persons who 
have gained conscious and voluntary control over 
atavistic traits. Persisting in special respiratory and 
muscular exercises, they control the action of the ") 
heart, of the digestive system, and so on. What is 
rational co-exists with what is true, and all things 
which are true have a conscious relation and value. 
What is reasonable is approachable, not only by the 
understanding, but also by consciousness. Accord- 
ingly, if reason, assisted by the discoveries and empiri- 
cal observations of psychology, arrives at the assertion 
of the soul, of the mind within the mind, of powers 
and potential faculties, consciousness can observe 
them. Reason is one of the variations of the mani- 
festation of consciousness and, in this sense, has al- 
ready related itself to the truth of immortality. 
Meditative reflection on this point will further the 
mind into conviction and enable consciousness to en- 
compass the truth. Science is founded on experi- 
mentation, that is, on a practical and consistent 
method of investigation. The discoveries of modern 
science were once potential. Truth develops with 
renewed and uncompromising research. Psychology 
and spiritual sciences are based on experimentation 
of most valuable character, for they are based on indi- 
vidual perception. Inference and belief belong to the 



222 The Spirit of Control. 

speculative arrangement. There is but one method, 
the method of individual research, of individual com- 
pliance with the means and ways of psychological re- 
search as affecting the individual. Practical psychol- 
ogy is invaluable. It renders possible the observa- 
tion and the study of those facts on which psychology 
and religion are founded. The most practical of all 
psychological experimentation is the study and obser- 
vation of ourselves. Personal experience and indi- 
vidual observation lead to illumination. What we are 
conscious of is of more importance than the learned 
findings of the most scrupulously scientific. Science 
is but the observation of facts, while consciousness is 
the experiencer of facts and the basis of truth and 
reality. 

There is the Light within, more radiant than the 
sun. There is the Light, more glorious than the 
glory of the moon and of all the stars. There is the 
Light within, and that Light is the soul of all Light, 
life, color and beauty. It alone is the true. It 
alone is the immortal. There is the Light within, 
manifesting in the perceptions of the intellect and 
in the perceptions of the senses. "The sun does not 
shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor these 
lightnings and much less this fire. When He shines, 
everything shines after Him. By His light all this 
is lighted." So sang the rishis of the Upanishads. 
Thus did the Aryan father instruct his son. He in- 
structed him that the Light of all the worlds was the 
Light within, and that that Light was the soul of his 
soul, and the soul of all. Being this, that Light was 



The Spirit of Control. 223 

all-permeating and universal. Being this, it was the 
essence of truth, peace and bliss. That Light is the 
true Light which guides the child of immortality along 
the way of knowledge and the way of peace. "He 
who perceives that Light, unto him is eternal peace, 
unto none else, unto none else." How is that Light 
to be seen ? How are we to become strong in spirit, 
rich in mind under Its all-embracing vision ? It can 
alone be perceived by asserting that It is. It can 
alone be discerned, after the intellect has been en- 
riched with all the arguments concerning Its exist- 
ence. Then discrimination comes, the wisdom which 
discerns the things which are real and the things 
which are only apparent. Glorious is the perception 
of that Light. It was perceived and taught in Galilee 
by the Son of Man. It was perceived and taught in 
India by Gautama Siddartha, the Buddha, the En- 
lightened One, the Prince of Peace. It was per- 
ceived and taught in China by Confucius, the Wise, 
and by Laotze, he who showed his followers Tao, the 
Way. It was perceived and taught in Persia, the 
Land of the Sun, by Zoroaster, he who heard the 
Voice of the Silence. Glorious is the perception of 
that Light. Its radiance parted the prophetic lips 
of the sybils of the Dodonian, the Delphic and the 
Cumaean oracles. It instructed the hierophants of 
the Elusinian and the Mithraic mysteries. In all 
ages It has shone by the right of inspiration. That 
inspiration comes unbidden to the man of spiritual 
pursuit. It is a part and parcel of his nature. He, 
in truth, has made great progress who has reached 



224 The Spirit of Control. 

the point of inspiration. Inspiration develops when 
the physical elements have reached a special evolu- 
tion and are composed of rarer material than the 
average body. Just as there is a decided variation 
in the construction and susceptibility of nervous sys- 
tems, so there is also a rareness and a fineness in the 
make-up of the entire body, in the instances of highly 
cultivated souls. The material does not so heavily 
impose its weight. The prophets of Judea were men 
of this description, and so are the priests and the 
prophets of all times. The state of inspiration is the 
state when the mind is perfected, when the rational 
element assures inspiration, when the emotional ele- 
ments are harmonized and the physical and desire 
vibrations are under perfect control. The man of 
inspiration is a man of highest culture, of greatest 
character, a man whose desires are perfect in aspira- 
tion, a man whose emotions are spiritualized, whose 
work is performed for the sake of the work and the 
service it renders. The affections of such a man are 
all-inclusive, for he loves because it is his nature to 
love. Perfect self-sacrifice and self-renunciation are 
qualities of the man of inspiration. Inspiration is 
not within the reach of a questionable character. 
That is why, in psychic development, moral observ- 
ances are insisted on. Just as water cleanses the 
body, so adherence to moral precept purifies the 
mind. Both body and mind must be purified before 
the personality is a fit vessel for the reception of 
truth. Knowledge is of purest and finest substance; 
ignorance, of densest and coarsest substance. The 



The Spirit of Control. -225 

unprincipled man cannot hope to become a son of 
light and a receiver of truth. His mind and body 
are too crass and dark. The man lacking self-control 
is a man of ignorance. The moral, mental and spirit- 
ual have ratio of meaning and stand in relation. 
One cannot be highly intellectual, that is, a perceiver 
of truth, without being consistent in moral practice 
and spiritual belief. The purification of the physi- 
cal elements consists largely in a development of the 
nervous system. Physical expression depends on the 
activity of the nervous system. All our sensitiveness 
to the phenomena and facts of life hinges on its con- 
dition and susceptibility. Therefore it is essential 
to cultivate the higher emotions and feelings since 
these specialize the functions of the nervous system. 
There is community of emotion and feeling in the 
average; variation and distinction of emotion and 
feelings in the superior. Beings of inferior unfold- 
ment have community of expression. With the indi- 
vidual there is an individual characterization of this 
expression. Expression depends on the evolution of 
the nervous system. What has been said of beings 
lower in the scale of life applies to the average in 
human life. The only difference is that the general 
ensemble of communal emotion and feeling is raised 
to a higher level. 

Thoughts which disturb the proper functioning of 
the nervous system, desires which invert its activity, 
emotions which strain its possibilities, work which 
undermines it, must be done away with. Thoughts 
of educational value, thoughts bearing value in con- 



226 The Spirit of Control. 

duct and helpful to the emotions must be cultivated. 
The development of the psychic is along the line of 
the nerves. Particular attention must be paid to 
those phases of expression which evolve or hinder 
perfect and natural development of the nervous sys- 
tem. In the beginning the person can dispense with 
the more intricate methods of gaining control. Such 
methods are the respiratory control, the regulation of 
the breath, and the control of the vital elements which 
are regulated by the breath. Control of the breath 
harmonizes the vibrations of the system, so that it 
becomes a powerful force, one-pointed and one-cen- 
tered. An eloquent teacher has compared the power 
of the concentrated forces of the human body with 
the control of the vibrations of the air in a room. 
Control the vibrations in any room, centralize them, 
cause them to move in a given direction, and the 
room becomes a storehouse of tremendous electric 
energy. The focalization of personal vibrations is 
accomplished through the determination of an evolved 
will, set in motion by the concentrated force of a 
single idea, a single purpose. Normally, the mind 
is swayed by every impulse and tendency, even as 
vibrations of air in a room are unequally distributed. 
Concentration is the method by which the mind uni- 
fies its vibrations and obtains harmony over mental 
influences, and by which it suppresses disturbing 
strains of thought, and accentuates helpful and up- 
lifting thoughts. Concentration is the end and be- 
ginning of psychic effort. Every evolution and spe- 
cialization in the development of progress is in and 



The Spirit of Control. 227 

through the concentrated attention, either in the form 
of desires or ideas. Outside of the mind there is vi- 
bration only. Within the mind is knowledge and 
power. Because of the habit of externalizing itself, 
the mind transposes its knowledge upon phenomena, 
regarding them as, in themselves, separate in exist- 
ence. All that the mind knows is its own reaction. 
So reading, writing, education, all else is simply the 
mind reacting on itself, at the instigation of outer 
impulse. The realization that the mind is the prin- 
ciple of knowledge and that insentient particles of 
matter can never be self-illuminating, is the first truth 
in the science of psychic control. In the conviction 
of this truth the mind becomes self-established. It 
looks no longer for education from without, but from 
within. It realizes that all evolution is from within. 
Instinctive desire for greater specialization of form 
and activity developed the evolutionary process, 
changing animal life from primitive to higher forms. 
The desire for greater expression will further devel- 
opment from the human upwards. The desire must 
be there. All power and progress is through consis- 
tent and elevated desire, and consistent desire is 
furthered by higher forms of mental progression. 
The mind must realize that the body is only its ex- 
pression, that it is sufficient to itself, that, if it has 
projected the body, it is the lord of those powers 
which compose physical life and form. It must 
realize that it is the origin of form and physical ex- 
pression, and that in this activity it is unlimited and 
unconditioned. Why should it limit itself to this 



228 The Spirit of Control, 

body ; why allow the body to hinder the expression of 
mind beyond the body ? Why should the body limit 
the mind to manifestation only nnder one or two 
conditions of space or form ? It is because the mind 
has lost the faculty of introspection, of perceiving 
that it is the lord of physical expression. It has en- 
slaved itself to the wants and cares and the clamor- 
ous desires of physical life. It has so completely 
identified itself with physical life, that it knows no 
other. This is the story of concentration. Concen- 
trate the mind on one given area and it is aware of 
no other. The body should be regarded in its rela- 
tive importance as the vehicle of physical expres- 
sion, not as the prison of the mind. The mind 
should emphasize its freedom, its power over physi- 
cal form and force. The religio-sanative cults of our 
day are worthy if for no other reason than that they 
liberate the mind, free it from the thraldom of physi- 
cal expression and thus allow its saving force to mani- 
fest in the cure of mental and physical disease. 

There is no religion higher than the religion of 
control, the religion which enters with heart and soul 
into the work of personal reform and development. 
It has been said that there is no religion higher than 
truth. Truth in its practical relation, however, is 
expressed in pure and unselfish conduct. The mind 
is the storehouse of all the experiences of personality. 
The Greater Mind absorbs the experiences of each 
personality and weaves the web of new personality 
from the aggregate of past personalities. That 



The Spirit of Control. 229 

Greater Mind is the mind which unfolds itself to the 
supersensuous vision. 

The greater effort includes the lesser. The aspira- 
tion based on the highest value includes and empha- 
sizes all others. In aspiring to the realization of the 
Highest Self, the effort at psychic control is relative, 
the effort at superconscious perception is relative, the 
effort at recollection of past lives is relative. There 
is always the possible danger that, in aspiring to 
power and control, we are likewise aspiring to the 
realization of selfish ends. The subconscious rela- 
tions which give creative force to aspirations are often 
tinctured with personal desire. That is why religion, 
in its devotional sense, is often so far superior to psy- 
chic control. In devotion there is the highest love. 
The Supreme is personalized ; the Highest Self is ac- 
credited with all the lovable and spiritual qualities 
which cause the heart to become attached. This at- 
tachment reaches the highest climax when the soul, 
so conscious of love and of the Beloved, merges 
into the superconscious state and thus attains, through 
devotion and love, what the adept in psychic control 
attains only after long periods of ponderous effort. 
Devotion and love are the natural and the easiest 
methods of realizing the true nature of the soul. The 
psychic knowledge and power which accrue to the 
psychic aspirant are gained only when every atom 
of personality is under control. He has to become 
master of physical, mental and psychic forces. Love 
finds the way and the light. Love conquers all diffi- 



230 The Spirit of Control. 

culties and changes disadvantage to advantage. Love 
smooths the path. Where the psychic adept has un- 
thinkable obstacles, where he has to develop out of 
his human nature into the nature of the god, the 
lover, the religious devotee, ever remains conscious 
of his limitations, ever remains closely united with 
the object of his ideal, knowing full well that, with- 
out the presence of his Beloved, he is as one lost in 
the wilderness, as one stranded on a nameless and un- 
knowable shore. When the soul contemplates the 
vast and boundless wilderness of existence, where all 
is confusion and darkness, where all is treachery and 
deceit, the undertaking to sever the ties which control 
the soul seems superhuman. But when the personal- 
ity, mindful of these obstacles, turns its attention to 
that Divine Being resident within the soul, help will 
come from beyond the clouds of ignorance ; the flood 
of divine light will scatter the darkness that veils 
the perception of the soul; the divine peace and the 
spirit of bliss and eternal calm will touch the soul 
transporting it to that state of insight and bliss which 
is beyond the perception of the understanding. The 
thought is awe-inspiring which tells of the indescrib- 
able desire, aspiring beyond all the variations of 
human attainment, yea, beyond god-like knowledge 
and power, and beyond and beyond into those states 
unknown even to the highest beings, into existence of 
perfect knowledge and bliss, and beyond and beyond 
into that unknowable state where individuality loses 
its finite aspect; where knowledge and bliss merge 
into one unifying state; where the soul sinks into 



The Spirit of Control. 231 

the everlasting calm of spiritual immensity. How 
limited is the mind ! It cannot go beyond sense com- 
prehension. When we think of the infinite, we think 
of it as in relation to time or space. The ideas of 
omnipresence have their root in our conception of 
space : the ideas of eternity in our conception of time, 
and so on. But the first step in psychic control is 
getting beyond these limited comprehensions. Our 
ideas of space and time change perceptibly, the first 
moment we see beyond the limitations of sensuous 
perception. The higher mind cognizes indefinite de- 
grees of space and time, of power and knowledge, of 
bliss and peace. The higher mind knows of control, 
understands all the conditions whereby the physical 
may become properly related and serve the interests 
of the Highest Self. The higher mind is the perfect 
mind, and, in its depths, is the essence of all knowl- 
edge. Clairvoyance and clairaudience, telaesthesia, 
telepathy and other powers of which psj'chology 
speaks are nothing in comparison with that vision and 
feeling which associate with the highly philosophical 
and spiritual temperament. Psychic powers are no 
more explanatory of the problem of existence than the 
normal sense and mental faculties. Clairvoyance is 
only the faculty of normal sight extended beyond its 
average area of perception. Similarly with hearing. 
People of nervous susceptibilities, of delicate nerve 
balance often possess these powers, though they 
have not the slightest appreciation of religious or 
philosophical truth. The fact that I can see, hear or 
feel better or beyond the normal area of the average 



232 The Spirit of Control. 

person does not insure moral or spiritual perfection. 
It does not enhance spiritual aspiration, or conduce 
to spiritual knowledge. Thousands of persons have 
stumbled on to supersensuous perception and at the 
same time they have used this evolution in the pur- 
suit of selfish interests. Each person is of relative 
inferiority or superiority of sense perception to his 
neighbor, though the basis of perception be the nor- 
mal sense faculties. Immediately beyond this normal 
border lies the field of perception evolving with the 
developed activity of the nervous system. So the folly 
of associating religious truth with psychic faculties is 
readily seen. Spiritual vision is highly distinct from 
psychic vision. The vision of the Master is incom- 
parably different from the vision of departed souls. 
The spiritual giant has nothing to do with spiritual- 
istic complexities. Why should a communication 
with the departed be of any greater religious surety 
than communication with incarnate beings ? Those 
who have passed beyond are not more evolved for 
the experience of death. There are souls on the 
earth plane far beyond the spiritual attainment of 
the average departed soul. Spiritualistic communica- 
tion is only an incident in the mighty development of 
the spiritual genius. People are beguiled by their 
own folly. They will pay their last farthing for a 
message from the departed and will not contribute 
one cent to the support of the proclaimer of re- 
ligious truth or the evangelist of the moral gospels. 
If the Christ should appear on earth this day 
he would, as of old, have no place to lay his 



The Spirit of Control. 233 

head. He would be told that it was impractical to 
follow the highest truth, that one cannot practice the 
requirements of morality and, at the same time, 
amass wealth or attain to great social or political im- 
portance. While the Christ, the Son of Man, the 
Messenger of Peace, the Way, the Truth, and the 
Life starved on the by-ways of existence, a vaude- 
ville hypnotic performer, a quasi-spiritualistic me- 
dium would be well-housed, well-fed and well-paid. 
Such is the way of error, such the benightedness of 
the fool, such the treatment accorded to the Great 
Ones, whose hearts are oceans of mercy and compas- 
sion. "If I were God, how I would pity men." This 
cry, wrung from the lips of the old king in the trag- 
edy of "Pelleas and Melisande," has particular adap- 
tation in this comparison. The dying Christ utters 
the agonizing cry: "Father, forgive them, for they 
know not what they do." 

Persons of limited understanding enrich the char- 
latan. Yet it is their karma. The law of compensa- 
tion makes them the victims of their own folly. Their 
past deeds and follies visit them in this form. These 
persons are as selfish in their respect as the charlatan 
is in his manner. They come to satisfy a curiosity, 
a personal and selfish desire. They come to experi- 
ence a new sensation, and justify themselves in assert- 
ing their belief in spiritualism. There is no science in 
the matter. "Persons believe what they desire to be 
the truth." This is applicable to many spiritualistic 
revelations. Too much emphasis cannot be laid upon 
the criticism of charlatan practice. These deplorable 



234 The Spirit of Control. 

methods of gaining money have resulted in an almost 
general disbelief in the valuable truth which spiritu- 
alism contains. It has led to the condemnation of 
such helpful sciences as palmistry and astrology. It 
has led to the wholesale criticism of other psychic 
practices, justifiable and scientific in their proper 
sphere, but ridiculous and pernicious when associ- 
ated with ignorance and selfishness. The powers and 
faculties of mind have an exalted meaning and ser- 
vice when rightly related to truth and fact. Psychic 
evolution is a matter of individual growth, of indi- 
vidual comprehension of the law, of individual 
recognition of truth, of individual discernment of 
light and life, of individual discrimination between 
the real and the unreal. No development can be had 
by adherence to creed. Psychic development is asso- 
ciated with the development of the perceptions of 
consciousness, with the widening of its moral activity, 
with the increase of its aspiration, and with the 
ennoblement of its desires and emotions. ]STo one can 
teach truth. The teacher can only give the key to 
the initiate. The latter must unlock and open the 
door which leads to the heaven of religious attain- 
ment. As each man is the architect of his own fate, 
the doer of his own deeds, so each man is his own 
pilot on the sea of existence, his own teacher, his 
own enlightener. ~No help can come from outside. In 
admonishing his disciples, the Buddha said : "You 
yourselves must make an effort. The Tathagatas are 
only great preachers." It is difficult to present sa- 
lient metaphors to assist the mind in the comprehen- 



The Spirit of Control. 235 

sion of truths beyond reason and beyond normal con- 
sciousness. Myths and folk-lore had origin in the 
efforts of great teachers to convey to the human mind 
the appreciation of supersensuous truth. Therefore, 
all myths and racial legends are to be respected, for 
th heart of these is truth. The effort of the human 
mind to go beyond itself, to reach the plane of direct 
knowledge and power is purely psychic. It has spir- 
itual value, only as spiritual meaning is attached to 
it. 

The many phases of psychic power are in them- 
selves of slight value in spiritual progression. They 
are incidental, and their service is excellent in the 
adjustment of physical and mental inharmonies. 
They are within the reach of each and every person. 
There are many conditions under which psychic 
power is displayed. There are even diseases of the 
nerves which serve as the medium of hyperaesthesia 
or the vivification of the normal senses beyond their 
normal range, so that the person, for the time being, 
becomes psychic. This manifestation, however, is 
a form of inversion. The psychic adept possesses 
best physical vitality. It is not by inversion that we 
come to the normal possession of psychic knowledge 
and power. Before any of the higher faculties de- 
velop, all those in present possession must properly 
harmonize. The greatest accomplishment of spiritual 
control is the liberation of the Self from the igno- 
rance which breeds identity with inverted emotions. 
These emotions are hatred, fear, anger, covetousness, 
lust, misery, pain, sorrow and so forth. They repre- 



236 The Spirit of Control. 

sent not only the philosophical misapprehension of 
practical truth ; they not only disturb the harmony of 
the mind, but cause physical harm and frequently 
death. When we realize the long list of diseases which 
have purely a mental origin, when we consider the 
many nervous diseases having their cause in inverted 
mental and desire vibrations, we will understand the 
moral character of therapeutical and faith-healing 
cults. In suggestive therapeutics, irrespective of the 
name or the form under which it appears, we find 
the appeal for a return to a proper emotional basis. 
The practitioners of religio-sanitary societies take it 
for granted that the root element in all disease is 
mental. They say that nervous diseases are, directly 
or indirectly, traceable to the influence of an inverted 
psychic order. Their methods call for a cheerful, 
wholesome attitude of mind. The work of the nat- 
ural curative forces as assisted. Fear, hypochondria 
and other mental phases retard the curative work of 
nature. Many of the so-called cures of our meta- 
physicians and healers are in the relief of the mind 
of the patient from morbid worry and unfounded 
phobias. As for the claim that all diseases are mental 
in origin, that complex functional or organic diseases 
have a mental causation irrespective of their apparent 
physical causes, it can only be said that as yet no scien- 
tific emphasis can be accredited to the statement. It is 
certain that in different phases of hysteria, phantom 
tumors, aphasia, loss of memory, loss of personal 
identity, forms of muscular paralysis and other con- 
ditions, seemingly physical in causation, are removed 



The Spirit of Control. 237 

under the influence of hypnosis. Thus, if muscular, 
circulatory or digestive disorders may arise through 
disordered mental processes, it may be that even 
complex structural or functional troubles may ulti- 
mately have a simple mental origin. At all events, 
such argument will explain the decided cures of 
Christian Science, of the Emanuel Movement, of the 
pilgrimage cures of the Roman Catholic Church, and 
the cures which it claims through the veneration of 
relics. Biblical instances are many which tell of 
cures by faith, by prayer, by the imposition of hands 
and by many other similar means. From immemor- 
ial times, and in the religious symbolism and liturgy 
of even semi-civilized nations, we find the cure of 
disease by methods other than medical, by methods 
solely mental. Physiologists have shown the effects 
of mental suggestion on the body. This suggestion 
may be good or evil. Our mental life is largely of the 
suggestive order. Our desires are suggestions to our 
conduct. Our ideas are suggestions to our desires, and 
so on until we come to the very psychic background of 
suggestion. Suggestion is at the root of our existence 
From being and acting in a personal sense, it is uni- 
versalized so that it includes the animal and vegetal 
lives. The evolution of form and character is inci- 
dent to the desire for greater specialization of mind 
and body, and that desire is formed through that 
background of universal psychic suggestion which 
instils the desire to be and the desire to increase in 
a sense collective as well as individual. The natural 
course of this instinctive suggestion is not fully ex- 



238 The Spirit of Control. 

pressed in the human species, for with the develop- 
ment of humanity is also the evolution of reason and 
the resultant faculty of choice in desire; in other 
words, with the development of humanity came the 
development of the free will. Yet in the incipient 
stages of the perfection of this freedom of will, we 
often find its course subverted. Reason is confused 
with instinctive desire and in this confusion is born 
the hydra-headed monster of perverted desire and 
perverted conduct, not alone that, but perverted in- 
stinct. In this confusion we have the discrimination 
between progressive and retrogressive instincts. 

Psychic control is the control of desire, the trans- 
valuation and accordant transformation of ideas and 
desires ; it is the amelioration of conduct, and the re- 
finement of physical and mental vibration. The per- 
version of reason, the confusion of the instinctive and 
rational elements are detrimental, frequently causing 
the death of the body. Exaggerated ideas and desires 
have their effect on the system. All exaggerated ideas 
are normal ideas excessively pronounced. Xormal 
ideas compose the psychic elements of normal sensuous 
desire. Pronounced beyond their original significance, 
these ideas have detrimental effects on those parts 
through which they are expressed. The conduits of 
expression of almost all the passions are the nervous 
and circulatory systems. The latter, when forced to 
function beyond its normal area, becomes congested 
and may result in instantaneous death. History tells 
of the death of the Roman Emperor Valentinian 
through anger at the indigent appearance of the am- 



The Spirit of Control. 239 

bassadors of the Quadi. Fear has its influence on 
the body, frequently leading to insanity and to death. 
All ideas of pronounced character have telling effect 
on the physical. Over-emphasized ambitions, ex- 
treme desires, abnormally concentrated thoughts, de- 
formed habits, have respective and varied influence. 
The reason for such manifestation is the overwhelm- 
ing power of thought. Thoughts are like great physi- 
cal powers. When harnessed and brought within the 
guidance of the human will they prove of invaluable 
service, while in their native condition they are de- 
structive to progress and hinder the advance of civ- 
ilization. To be of effectual service in the transfor- 
mation of the human into the superhuman character, 
to be of effectual service in the realization of true 
individuality, thought must be concentrated, focal- 
ized, harmonized, brought under perfect control 
and harnessed so as to develop greater strength and 
turn into the direction of personal advancement 
Thought must be of the purer character. Concen- 
trated thought of improper moral color is a thou- 
sandfold worse to the mind than its natural dissipated 
state. This is the value of the elimination of im- 
moral ideas and perverted desires. Habit is but 
another name for instinct. Therefore, to control the 
instinctive, and the impulse life, we must exercise 
firm command over conscious life, regulating sen- 
suous desires to the best of our knowledge. Ideas 
must be developed so as to mould the expression of 
desires. We may not know how to dive beneath this 
conscious expression and discover the menta-psychical 



240 The Spirit of Control 

causes of ideas and desires, but over the present mo- 
ment we have full control, and present moments de- 
cide later habits. Each thought is a link in that chain 
which binds individuality within the wheel of rebirth ; 
so is each expression of conduct, each desire, word, 
each deed of commission and each deed of omission. 
The thought causes the intellect to stagger in the con- 
templation. But true it is, and in this truth is found 
the reason of freedom of will, of moral responsibil- 
ity, of spiritual effort, of the realization of that which 
is best in our nature. The control of thought has a 
meaning apart from the moral. It has an intellectual 
significance in the accentuation of talents and the 
development of genius. Perfect application to given 
pursuits is perfect concentration along the lines they 
represent. In the light of future lives and the end- 
lessness of time within which to perfect our tastes and 
talents, there is no barrier which cannot be overcome, 
no obstacle which cannot be turned into a point of 
advantage. Everything, all nature, all evolutionary 
tendencies, assist the aspiring soul, anxious to realize 
the highest interests and give meaning and glory to 
personality. In the light of the sublime truth con- 
concerning the human soul, the pursuit of sensuous 
desires is deplorable. Grounded in debased igno- 
rance, many pass through this life having accom- 
plished but little in the perfection of their personal- 
ity. For such as these the law has no mercy. It is 
evil enough to have buried one's talents in the ground, 
but to have broken them and scattered them to the 
winds is fearful. We are born for work and for the 



The Spirit of Contrdl. 241 

noblest expression of which we are capable. In that 
expression lies the highest knowledge, the highest 
power and the highest peace. To the philosopher 
and to the adept of spiritual wisdom, this world is 
the field of moral endeavor, the state in which real- 
ization must be a fact and not a theory, where psychic 
evolution co-exists with moral evolution. The man 
who is wasteful or unmindful of opportunities is a 
loss to himself. Morality is the refinement of 
thought, for all morality is the result of the desire 
to perfect and ennoble the best within. Civilization 
has reached the perfection of knowledge and power 
through following the highest impulse. Coarse, dull, 
heavy are the elemental instincts which give tone, 
color and expression to elemental life. Refined, com- 
posed of rare vibrations and powers of thought, are 
the aesthetic, the artistic, the inventive, the progres- 
sive ideas and desires. What can withstand the on- 
ward march of evolution, of the innumerable desires 
of innumerable lives to perfect and widen the area of 
natural expression. Psychic power, life and thought 
is only a continuation of natural manifestation. On 
their respective planes, and to those of spiritual com- 
prehension, the workings of psychic forces are no 
more mysterious than the workings of natural forces, 
for by nature is included all variations of life and 
motion, be they of the primitive or of the highest 
spiritual order. The powers and faculties of mind 
are the powers and possibilities of the spiritual life 
within which each must realize before humanity is 
perfected in individual progress. 



242 The Spirit of Control. 

It is not the propaganda of dogma, but of moral 
impulses and values which is true evangelic work. 
The teaching of the Christ and of the Buddha had no 
dogmatic intentions. Theirs was the mission of giv- 
ing evolution a new bound, and that mission ex- 
pressed itself in the propaganda of ethical teaching. 
Such propaganda has nothing to do with sectarian- 
ism. It is the religion of advancement along moral 
lines. The development of mind has been brought 
about by the concentration on highest values. What- 
ever development is yet to come, the development of 
spiritual knowledge and control, can be realized only 
through this avenue. Adherence to moral require- 
ments is the adhernce to those things which make for 
conscious control of the whole person. It is in this 
manner that the powers and faculties of the mind are 
realized. 



THE BIETHKIGHT OF THE SOUL. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE BIRTHRIGHT OF THE SOUL. 

Out of the darkness came the light. In the highest 
sense the darkness is not different from the light, for 
darkness is light unmanifested. In all poetry and 
imagery of the mind symbols are found apparently 
contradictory in value and description, yet by some 
indiscernible bond, they are identical in nature and 
essence, separate only in form, activity and mani- 
festation. The goal of all varied activities is one. 
Light is the life, form and manifesting condition of 
all forms and forces. It is the symbol of deepest 
wisdom, all-embracing existence and bliss supreme. 
Darkness symbolizes that universal illusion which 
inhibits the vision of the soul. The cause of dark- 
ness is an unknowable cause, but it has its uses. 
Through darkness light is contrasted and its qualities 
exalted. Its transcendent glory is brought home to 
the experience of consciousness. The symbols and 
the nature of the ideal have physical correspondences. 
Light is the life of the earth. By light bodily nutri- 
tion is developed. Physical light is the exterioriza- 
tion of mental light which purges the mind of the 
impurities of ignorance. Physical light is but the 
faint reflection of that mental light which renders 
possible the expression of truth, the harmonization of 



24G The Birthright of the Soul. 

discordant principles, and the accentuation of higher 
values and deeper realities. The light of the mind, 
in turn, is a dim refraction of that spiritual light 
which is the background of the life of the mind and 
the life of the body. That spiritual light is the 
essence of light, the encompassing activity of light 
which enters in and through all forms and forces of 
mind and body. It is that light which is the soul 
of all minor reflections. Through all the crevices of 
substance, through all the obstacles of material dark- 
ness and density, through all the clouded perturba- 
tions of material counter-influences, that spiritual 
light is at work flooding the darkness. But beyond, 
above, beneath, on all sides, glorious, unending, un- 
thinkable, before either darkness or light, and ever- 
lasting is that radiant spiritual essence, in itself, the 
fundamental principle of light. It is not light, but 
that which manifests as light. Darkness is but an- 
other form of its appearance. Darkness exists only 
through limitations of the perceptive area of sense 
vision. Where we fail to see, light is still extant, per- 
ceptible to creatures of different planes of life. Is 
the sight of the eagle less than the sight of man be- 
cause the eagle perceives light where man is blinded ? 
The light of the sun is so dazzling that we speak of it 
as blinding. Where there is blindness of vision there 
is darkness, but it is darkness only to those whose 
vision is circumscribed. The light of day is our me- 
dium of natural sight, but the light of day is darkness 
to the owl. 

Light is everywhere, and the omnipresence of phy- 



The Birthright of the Soul. 247 

sical light is representative of the omnipresence of 
mental and spiritual light. As the light of nature is 
the life of the body, as the light of universal intelli- 
gence is the life of the mind, so beyond the mind that 
spiritual light exists which is the life of the soul. 
Beyond that spiritual light is the life of the universe, 
that boundless, shoreless, unknowable spirit of life 
and light which pervades all form, all force, all mani- 
festation, all relative expression, all differences, all 
contradictions, unifying their nature into that absorb- 
ing World-Soul which is the essence of knowledge, 
the essence of existence, the essence of bliss. As the 
innumerable differences of form and force are ab- 
sorbed by one all-pervading substance of which all 
forms are manifestations, and by one all-pervading 
force of which all forces are manifestations; as uni- 
versal substance and force are synthesized in an in- 
scrutable unity and source of manifestation, forming 
the cosmic equilibrium, so all conditions of mind and 
form are variations of light and darkness. It is the 
dual expression of that "One without a second.'* 

That One without a second is the center of the 
universe and the center of each individual soul. As 
the circumference of a circle bears vital relations to 
the center, so all lives are circumferences of the end- 
less spiritual circle of which Self is the center. The 
One concentrated upon His nature, and the knower, 
the known and the knowable were born. The known 
assumed separate existence. Vivified by the light of 
the One, the known also reflected Manifoldness, the 
principle of nature was born. The knowable is the 



248 The Birthright of the Soul. 

One concentrating through all, in search of truth 
beyond immediate discernment. In the segregation 
of the known from the knower, the knower took on 
separate existence and, asserting individuality, was 
immersed in self-assertion and ignorance. The souls 
of the manifold have their origin in the infinite 
nature of the One and, therefore, the conditions under 
which they manifest, and the field of the knowable, of 
which they are in pursuit, is also infinite. True, the 
"Why" of existence is beyond reason. But he who 
questions the "Why" of manifoldness, when the 
nature of the universe is One, should keep himself 
within the range of the knowable. Through the ex- 
pansion of the known, he may attain to that which is 
beyond the known. Through search after immediate 
values comes the development of the means for further 
investigation. Further and further progress is made. 
Greater and greater lucidity is accorded known truth 
and, through the pronunciation of known truths, 
the soul gets a glimpse of supersensuous truths, 
standing in immediate relation to known facts. It 
would be the height of stupidity for a man, unfamil- 
iar with the principles of aerial navigation, who has 
never heard of such an invention, to question why he 
cannot fly even as he can walk. That "Why" is be- 
yond his immediate solving, but within his immediate 
reach is the observation of those facts and the study 
of those principles upon which the science of aerial 
navigation rests. The man who questions concerning 
the nature of existence should first attend to truths 
which bear immediate relation to his present respon- 



The Birthright of the Soul. 249 



*fe 



sibilities, to those duties which the Law imposed upon 
his soul at birth. In pursuit of possible knowledge, 
knowledge beyond immediate solution unfolds itself. 
The racial soul has progressed so rapidly by reason of 
its attention to facts which lay before it, by reason 
of effort in discerning those near truths which have 
practical relation. So it is with the man who pro- 
gresses beyond his age. His concentration does not 
operate beyond the field of his possibilities. It acts 
on the plane of given talents, given factors for the 
pursuit of attainable knowledge. Let the "far off 
divine event towards which creation moves" adapt 
itself to its own relations. The divine event in per- 
sonal life is the perfection of character and the real- 
ization of Self. 

The birthright of the soul is the spirit of perfec- 
tion. The struggle of personality is towards that per- 
fection. All the sorrows and all the joys of life, all 
the equalities and inequalities of life, all the varia- 
tions in the rise or the retrogression of individual 
effort have value in the sum-total of efforts leading to 
perfection. Men are born with different tendencies 
and different possibilities. Some come into this world 
almost instinctively masters of the things that they 
later accomplish. They seem born to occasions 
and with all the constituents of greatness. They are 
born with talent. Their success grows with their nat- 
ural expansion. These are the men who are the mas- 
ters of their career, the men whom no obstacle can 
daunt, whose success no opposition can undermine. 
They are the teachers, the artists, the perfectors in 



250 The Birthright of the Soul. 

their calling. They shape their destinies and domi- 
nate the vocations in which they find themselves. 
These persons are born with mental powers. 

The birthright of all men is the aggregate of the 
foremost psychic constituents of their nature. The 
birthright of the soul is a birthright dependent upon 
no external accident. It is within the personality, as 
the personality is, within iself, distinct from anything 
extraneous. Every soul is expressed in the manifes- 
tation of potential inherents and in the exterioriza- 
tion of inner personal faculties. Every soul is the 
exponent of its own mystery, the mystery of its 
beauty of expression, the mystery of mental causes 
producing their effect along individual lines. That 
is the birthright of the soul in the realm of things 
finite where perfection in any given circle is ever 
relative. Within the dominion of finite existence 
varied perfections exist, but they only serve to develop 
further unfoldment, further specialization of spir- 
itual functions and faculties. The aim of evolution 
is almost metaphysical, so indiscernible is it, so 
utterly beyond the highest flight of the imagination. 
In the achievement of that aim, however, are many 
subordinate achievements which have an invaluable 
position in the total scheme. The aim of evolution 
is only an imitation of the end of man. Unthinkable, 
in a relative sense unknowable, is the end of man, the 
end of the individual soul. But the distance it has 
already travelled is also unthinkable. The past is 
as marvellous as the future. The goal of human 
evolution is the perfection of subordinate sense 



The Birthright of the Soul. 251 



"& 



faculties, the development of the higher mental 
qualities, the transformation of mental into psychic 
faculties, the growth out of the psychic into the spir- 
itual nature. Beyond that is the realization of the 
principle which gave meaning to evolution, meaning 
to eifort; the realization of that all-potent principle 
that caused the rise of the soul out of material dark- 
ness into the light of the mind and into the light of 
the soul. The supreme birthright of the soul is su- 
preme perfection. Within the abyss of the soul that 
supreme perfection exists in potentiality. Personal 
perfection is but a finite reflection of supreme perfec- 
tion. Relative perfection increases and increases; 
more and more of that supreme perfection is realized ; 
but when the soul has ascended to the highest orders 
of existence, it begins to realize that all this finite 
perfection, this perfection of degrees and of variable- 
ness can never fully manifest the supreme perfection 
of Self. Supreme perfection cannot be realized 
within the limitations of finite evolution. Supreme 
perfection is characteristic of supreme and of infi- 
nite existence; compared with infinite existence and 
infinite perfection all this minor evolution, however 
great its proportions, is but a drop compared to the 
ocean. The infinite is ever the infinite even though 
it manifests in the relative order. Beyond the rela- 
tive, including the relative, it is the infinite. 

Involution is the causal state of evolution. From 
coarsest substance, from gross forms, from undevel- 
oped faculties and limited tendencies men have 
evolved to that point where fineness and complexity 



252 The Birthright of the Soul 



& j 



of form, where powerful faculties and evolutionary 
tendencies are uplifting humanity into wider avenues 
of racial and individual perfection. Each creature 
is one with every other creature in the community of 
original life, original expression, original initiative 
of impulse towards the upward circle of evolution. 
Therefore the highest duty manifests in service to 
others. This tendency of service and co-operation in 
the work of evolution is observed in the lives of the 
higher mammals, frequently sacrificing themselves 
for the perpetuity of offspring and the protec- 
tion of members of the same species. In man, this 
tendency to serve is the fundamental essential of the 
civilizing impulse and of the achievement of civiliza- 
tion. Yet it is difficult for many to grow apart from 
that lower order of expression, the order of brute 
manifestation, which specializes its activity in the 
lust and the satisfaction of instinctive desires. Take 
away the higher mind and you have the beast. That 
is the "beast within" to be conquered and controlled 
so that the higher and important principles of man 
may be completely expressed and brought into the 
line of highest manifestation. Behind the polished 
courtier of the most exacting court is that same 
spirit, hidden within the depth of subconscious life, 
which unites and makes him one with the roving 
tigers of the Himalayan regions. The fiercest and 
wildest instincts of the brute lie submerged in the 
depths of each individual. Through repeated human 
lives and through suppression of selfishness conflict- 
ing with collective welfare, the individual is com- 



The Birthright of the Soul. 253 



'o 



pelled to control his bestial instincts, to manifest the 
higher instincts and develop talents and qualities 
that render him of value to the social status. Yet 
who can tell in what hour of psychological dis- 
turbance the known surface of evolution may not be 
violently uprooted by an upheaval from the depths 
of subconscious life with its memory of brute lives 
and brute instincts ? The psychic mechanism of 
such fine, almost aesthetic structure accounts for 
the evolution of man, his normal, active, conscious 
struggle towards greater manifestation. But does 
it not equally account, when its activity is disturbed 
by subconscious tendencies, for those otherwise inex- 
plicable crimes which are frequently pardoned under 
the plea of momentary insanity ? The normal activ- 
ity of the conscious mind is of most delicate adjust- 
ment. It is remarkable that more of these crimes are 
not perpetrated. We hear of persons, whose lives 
have been exemplary and irreproachable, suddenly 
losing hold of all moral values, and killing those in 
their immediate affection, or perhaps committing 
some outrageous transgression against social ethics. 
Their crime is purely psychological. It has psychic 
beginnings beyond the action or control of the will, 
beyond even the appreciation of individual judgment 
or consciousness. Insanity is the prolonged expres- 
sion of temporary psychic upheavals. Disturbances 
of normal consciousness, or of any of its faculties 
arise through the maladjustment of certain subcon- 
scious to certain normal phases of the mind. Gen- 
erally, the subconscious influence is the more power- 



254 The Birthright of the Soul. 

fill. Possessing insight into the various principles 
that constitute personality, we can somewhat compre- 
hend the origin of insanity, of insane emotions, fixed 
ideas, eccentric fears, and so on. Insanity is almost 
inexplicable. We may analyze the symptoms, but we 
can never explain the subconscious action, the psychic 
disturbance which disrupts the normal functionings 
of consciousness. A state of insanity is the condensa- 
tion of its individual parts. If we know the individ- 
ual parts developing complex insanity, or a strain of 
dominant ideas that control the will, we have the 
clue to the cause of insanity, and thus the prescrip- 
tion for the cure. Every insane state is the ag- 
gravated condensation of what, for the lack of better 
terms, may be called "insane atoms." These atoms 
have their source in the dissipated states of normal 
consciousness. Indecision in a vital moral matter is 
a breaking away from normal expression. These sin- 
gular breaks repeated, become fixed and controlling; 
a habit of abnormal relations is formed, disturb- 
ing the natural adaptation of the lower to the psycho- 
spiritual qualities. The bond which unites the lower 
to the higher is broken. The lower begins to wander. 
In the wandering it more and more severs itself from 
those elements still united and normally expressive. 
With the extension of habit consciousness concen- 
trates on abnormal features. Finally, through the 
confusion of consciousness with eccentric ideation, the 
normal functions of consciousness recede from the 
surface area into the psychic abysses of subconscious 
life. In bold relief then stands the unbalanced ec- 



The Birthright of the Soul. 255 

centric state of mind. It grows as does any separate 
normal activity. 

Birthright was an important feature of ancient 
Hebraic belief which bore a meaning apart from the 
surface interpretation. The Hebrews had their eso- 
tericism. Their biblical writings were but a small 
fraction of their spiritual lore. They had their 
Kaballa, their school of Essenian philosophers, their 
school of Prophet Initiates. The ideas which found 
expression in their sacred literature were but partial 
truths, the important truth and significance resting in 
that depth of esoteric wisdom, confined within the 
silence of Kaballistic circles. The esoteric version of 
the privilege of birthright is precedence, not so much 
by right of physical birth as by right of spiritual pro- 
gression. Special occult privileges were accorded the 
first born. Apart from the fact of being first born by 
right of physical precedence, apart from family dis- 
tinctions and relationships, each and every soul is 
first born in the divine right of the Higher Self, the 
Self of all animate and inanimate objects. Then, too, 
there is the first born, the highest developed portion 
of the individual, first born by being most perfectly 
evolved. Birthright makes great requisites. It calls 
upon us for support, for loyalty. It tells us that it 
embodies the true and the real elements of our 
nature, that, if we are sincere, we must accentuate 
its greater importance. Loyalty to our birthright is 
loyalty to Self. In loyalty to their spiritual birth- 
right men become serviceable to whomsoever they 
come into contact with. They grow into the fulness 



256 The Birthright of the Soul 



cv 



of their nature. They become one with the heart of 
the universe, one with the evolutionary principle 
which guides into greater avenues of expression each 
and every phase of life. In service to the interests 
which birthright involves the soul not only becomes 
master of itself, but master of nature as well. Obe- 
dience is better than sacrifice. Obedience does not 
enslave. By becoming one with nature, men become 
disposers of universal power, conduits of universal 
knowledge. They become the priests of the Greater 
Faith, the children of the Great Mother Principle in 
nature. In this mystic sense they are first-born. In 
this mystic sense they are disciples of the First 
Teacher, the Teacher of Teachers. The birthright of 
the soul is the sum-total of its possibilities either pres- 
ent or latent. It is the possession of infinite strength 
and peace. The soul is a channel for the inflow of 
the spiritual principles sustaining mental and physi- 
cal expression. By placing itself in direct relation- 
ship with the Center and Source of Truth, the soul 
becomes one with that Center and Source. The 
Master said to his disciple : "My boy, if you had no 
one to teach you the law, how, then, would you go 
about to acquire the highest knowledge ?" The reply 
followed: "He, the Antaryamin within, He the soul 
of my soul would communicate it to me, for He is the 
strength and knowledge even of the greatest teacher." 
Said the Master : "Even so, my child. The Teacher 
even now has spoken to you." 

Directing our desire for spiritual advancement to 
the Spirit, calling upon Him Whose mighty soul is 



The Birthright of the Soul. 257 



*» 



an infinite ocean of truth, and Whose love manifests 
when the soul seeks, is the speedy path toward the 
goal of realization. The Christ said to his disciples, 
and not alone to them but to all souls : "Seek and ye 
shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you." 
The birthright of the soul is pure, unqualified divin- 
ity. "Thou art That," say the Vedas. In this spirit 
omniscience, omnipotence, peace eternal, bliss bound- 
less, love infinite are existential qualities of the soul. 
Behind this veil of cosmic illusion, behind this dense 
manifestation of surface life shines the light of 
lights, the essence of knowledge, the essence of all 
great and good qualities as they are relatively condi- 
tioned. Men must gaze beneath the surface. They 
must sink into the abyss of their nature and there 
they will discover how : "The abyss of the individual 
soul cries unto the abyss of the soul of God saying: 
'Which is the more profound V " In reality neither 
is more profound, for apart from the distinctions 
which this surface life imposes, they are "One with- 
out a second," equal in glory, in power, in reality, 
in adorableness, in everlastingness, in the eternal, "I 
AM." It is a crime to declare that the soul is other 
than the Highest Self. It is superstitious to believe 
that the soul is the body. As great a materialism is 
it to say that the soul is the mind. It is neither mind 
nor body. Both mind and body are limited. Both 
appear only in the manifestation of Maya, the univer- 
sal illusion. Neither of the body nor of the mind can 
it be said that it is or that it is not. The essential I is 
Spirit. It is beyond sex. Sex involves duality. It 



258 The Birthright of the Soul. 

discriminates, and in the discrimination birth orig- 
inates. The free and ancient Spirit is neither born 
nor dies. It is above qualities ; it is beyond all forms, 
all distinction, all caste, all class, all potential and 
all manifesting conditions. This universe, stupend- 
ous as it is, is not even as a drop of water to vast 
seas. In the highest sense, it is not. Spirit alone is. 
Therefore, neither is mind nor body real. Spirit, un- 
conditioned and absolute, is the essence of soul. What 
is Spirit? Only to Spirit is Spirit known. Only to 
Spirit does Spirit exist. To glimpse Spirit, it being 
beyond intellect and beyond sense grasp, the soul 
must reach beyond its normal faculties of perception. 
Kant has told us there is a wall beyond which reason 
can never go. He has likewise said that religion and 
the perception of spiritual realities can be experi- 
enced only through the soul. It is hard to break down 
that wall of reason. In the first place reason is stub- 
born. It wants solid proofs. It abhors mere faith. 
It demands logic. It constantly debates. Eeason, 
however, is dependent on sense experience, and how 
limited the latter is ! The task of reaching the plane 
of superconscious truth is difficult, but the goal is 
worth all cost, all effort. Inspiration, intuition, the 
whisperings of conscience, all are beyond reason. In- 
tuition has relations to practical experience. All of 
us have witnessed the working out of intuition into 
verities of conscious experience. For example, take 
those unprovable truths which come into the area of 
normal consciousness. If heeded, they often give 
warning of danger, sometimes a greater understand- 



The Birthright of the Soul. 259 



j & 



ing of already known values and aid the soul in travel- 
ing the devious paths of personal life. The birthright 
of the soul is its possibility of grasping hold of univer- 
sal knowledge. But there are moral relations. 

Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. 
Each time the soul deviates from the mormal path, 
each time it accentuates the lower elements, each 
time the soul allows the persuasions of animal in- 
stincts and of the brute within to have their course, 
it sells its birthright for a mess of pottage. Many 
soar, but like vultures they cannot close their vision 
to the carrion below. The symbol of the soaring of 
the soul into the proper height of spiritual endeavor 
and realization is the eagle. The eagle with mar- 
velous vision faces the blinding light of the sun. 
The soul, attuned to spiritual harmonies, faces the 
Light of lights, the Central Sun. Thus is the soul 
the Son of God and partaker of His spiritual qualities. 
The soul is symbolized in the lotus. The lotus stands 
apart from the contaminated waters in which it has 
unfolded. Unsoiled and beautiful it retains its 
purity, sweetness and wholesomeness. The soul, 
though merged in the worldliness of social and ma- 
terial life, though the discords of ignorance and 
worldly passions beat wildly against it, brave, pure, 
holy and discriminating, it is as the lotus, unsullied 
and unstained. Men appreciate the importance of a 
thing when they are acquainted with its essential 
value. They adapt themselves to a truth only as 
they are convinced of its useful and saving quali- 
ties. This occurs in the world of practical experi- 



260 The Birthright of the Soul. 

ence, but it also relates to the world of spiritual ad- 
vancement. If the mind were absolutely convinced of 
the truth which lies beyond normal intellectual per- 
ception, if the senses could perceive the realities be- 
yond the veil which separates one plane of conscious- 
ness from the other, our entire life and the view 
of life would be related to a newer knowledge of 
things useful and practical. 'No one is truly spirit- 
ual, no one mindful of the birthright of his soul who 
allows himself to swerve from the path and the faith. 
ISTo one appreciates the divine right of his individual- 
ity who suppresses the expansion of the higher qual- 
ities of his nature by giving rein to false instincts, 
having root and expression in ignorance. Truly 
mindful of the central facts of the soul and its birth- 
right, the children of Light forsake seeming practi- 
calities, become enthusiasts of unworldly wisdom 
and practitioners of things seemingly incoherent 
with the normal adaptation of the individual to 
social and economic surroundings. A very great 
Hindu saint, regarded by many as a divine incarna- 
tion, was asked why he was so mad after religion. 
The saint made answer: "All are mad, some for 
money, some for name, some for fame, some for 
going to heaven. In this universe everyone is mad. 
I, too, am mad. I am mad after God. You are 
mad, so am I. After all, I think my madness is the 
best." 

The mystic is the greatest philosopher. The logi- 
cian reasons. The mystic feels. He feels what the 
former merely perceives. He senses what the logi- 



The Birthright of the Soul. 261 

cian philosophically knows. Feeling is the greatest 
method of arriving at truth. Of what one feels he 
is certain. Reason moves within circles. Conscious 
knowledge is alone true. 

The soul is redeemed from all eternity. No Christ 
can save us. He can only tell us what we should do. 
The Buddha told the world that each individual soul 
must meet its personal responsibility. The Swami 
Vivekananda said: "No doubting person can reach 
the goal. He who does not believe in himself is an 
atheist. Know that you cannot have faith in the 
Lord unless you have first faith in yourself." Shov- 
ing the burden of individual redemption upon the 
shoulders of a Christ is weakness. "The Lord helps 
those who help themselves." He gives them His 
saving power. He privileges them with the concep- 
tion of truth. He accords them that supernormal 
perception of reality which leads to supreme wisdom. 
The birthright of the soul is glorious, but glorious also 
must be the adaptation of the soul to its birthright, 
the effort of the soul to materialize faculties and qual- 
ities into the field of conduct and knowledge. We 
are our own redeemers. From all eternity and by 
right of the Spirit within are we redeemed. Exist- 
ence absolute, knowledge absolute, bliss absolute. 
Such is the heritage to which we are destined by 
right divine. Who is greater than Self? Who en- 
compasses within his nature more of truth than an- 
other? Of one soul substance are we all. The per- 
mutations of mind-stuff within the soul cause it to 
say : "I am this. I am that. I suffer. I eat. I sleep," 



262 The Birthright of the Soul 



& j 



and so forth. That is not Self. All these statements 
represent certain states of mind. Consciousness is un- 
qualified. The permutations of mind reflected upon 
the pure mirror of Spirit grow into expression, but 
the expression is lifeless. A pure crystal is not red 
because of the reflection of a scarlet rose upon it. It 
only appears to be red. Remove the rose and there 
is the pure crystal. Similarly is it with regard to the 
stainless, unqualified, unmodified soul. It appears 
to be angry, tired, vain, indisposed in mind or body, 
because of the permutations of mind-stuff upon its 
unspotted, pure surface. Remove the elements of 
mind and the existential soul, undefiled Spirit shines 
forth. We cannot understand the unqualified nature 
of the soul. We cannot perceive how pure conscious- 
ness becomes seemingly qualified. The present area 
of consciousness is before us. If we remember, how- 
ever, that what we are to-day is by reason of unfold- 
ment of qualities previously latent ; if we recall that 
the knowledge we now possess was at one time poten- 
tial, we will in a manner comprehend the reason why 
we cannot now understand the nature of unqualified 
consciousness and why we may understand in the 
future. Immediately before is the unknowable. But 
the unknowable will sometime become the known. 
Such is the process of progression ; such the evolution 
which enables the soul to partake of and experience 
the new power and the higher expansion of conscious- 
ness into hitherto unknown realms. 

O, Wisdom Supreme! O, Love Unutterable! 
Reach us through and through ourselves. Guide us 



The Birthright of the Soul. 263 

in such ways as exalt in our understanding the birth- 
right of the soul. Give us ample knowledge and 
sustaining protection, so that in the day of Light we 
may be one of those whose raiments are more brill- 
iant than the sun. Our personalities have vibratory 
force. Sensitive natures are aware and come under 
the influence of the individual aura. This aura is 
seen about many images of the saints and sages in 
the form of emanating rays of light. Spirituality is 
to the soul what the perfume is to the sweet-smelling 
rose. It is the sweet persuasiveness of spirituality 
which reaches the very depths of soul and with 
bonds of love rivets it in religious ecstasy and devo- 
tion. Let us place the Ideal of our lives on the 
altar of our hearts, consecrating our souls to the 
realization of Divinity. Worthiest consideration is 
due the Ideal, and extreme and unselfish devotion. 
Men are the masters of power when they devote 
themselves to the perfection of the Within. That 
is the meaning of true devotion, devotion to the 
Ideal. One may call that Ideal Christ, Buddha, 
Krishna, Ramakrishna ; one may call it Mother, 
Father, Jehovah or the Absolute, or it may be re- 
garded as the Self eternal. 

There are surface philosophers who question the 
extreme in philosophy. Even in Christianity, were 
one to literally adopt the teachings of the Christ, he 
would be rated, to say the very least, as eccentric. But 
the extreme is the only method of attaining the goal. 
One cannot stop at half-truths or half-efforts. There 
are those who smile at the profound philosophies of 



264 The Birthright of the Soul. 

the mystic Orient. They say that the Buddhists, the 
Brahmans, and the Vedantins are dreamers. They 
assert their philosophies are ineffectual in work-a- 
day life. It is true ; these philosophies are not prac- 
tical in the accustomed sense of the word. This is 
the land of material expansion, the land of temporal 
prosperity, the land where the word practical has 
a meaning only in its positive relation to money, ma- 
terial power and aggressiveness. If spirituality can- 
not gain a foothold with men through its own inher- 
ent beauty, if its overwhelmingly practical value can- 
not be discerned, if its saving grace, power, and 
reformatory influence cannot be duly appreciated, 
then it will remain potential until the individual has 
progressed to the point of individual perception. 
Practical it is in every sense. The idea of practical- 
ity is intimately associated with the idea of happi- 
ness. Show man how his real happiness is consis- 
tent with spiritual knowledge and progress, show him 
the usefulness of spiritual effort, persuade him of 
the great service spiritual truth has in the world of 
mind and body and his idea of happiness will shift 
from lower to higher points. Emphasize the neces- 
sity of the soul's adoration to Spirit by reason of the 
existence of Spirit. If spiritual truth blesses us in 
the sphere of mind and body, let us be grateful, but 
let us not bargain. Let us not be spiritual because of 
worldly advantage. Such attitudes are the lingering 
notes of the religion of barbarism. In viewing a 
glorious natural scene we do not seek any return from 
nature in giving our admiration and our love. The 



The Birthright of the Soul. 265 

very fact that we admire and adore is, of itself, up- 
lifting. "Virtue is its own reward," and so is spir- 
itual effort. 

"One nature delights in another," reads an an- 
cient Egyptian manuscript; "one nature overcomes 
another ; one nature overrules another, and the whole 
of them are one." The birthright of which the soul 
is possessed has this power of overruling one element 
of our nature so that the next higher develops expres- 
sion. Conserve the worthy, reject the unworthy. 
Crush the lower so that the higher may manifest. 
Devotion to the ideal of progression demands this. 
Sometimes the methods employed to suppress an 
undesirable element require greatest diligence and 
patience, but, when the victory is gained, the task 
seems light. The deathbed has always been a forcible 
argument in the preachings of evangelists. But the 
terrors of the deathbed, that is, the theological ter- 
rors, are mythical. The real terror of the last illness 
is remorse, the sting of conscience at the recital of 
the soul against itself of wasted opportunities, of 
wasted talents and privileges. The mess of pottage 
for which so many are struggling, so many giving up 
birthright of soul, is this melange of name and fame, 
position and importance, lust and greed. Men are 
tremendously given over to things temporal. One 
of the greatest curses which ignorance entails is this 
density of perception which hinders appreciation of 
spiritual things. Qualities of mind are beyond the 
values of commercial life. The mind has possessions 
which infinitely surpass the treasures into which 



266 The Birthright of the Soul. 

thieves may break. ]STo man can rob another of his 
mental storehouse. His mental attainment is as 
much a part and parcel of himself as his individ- 
uality. "Who steals my purse steals trash, but he 
who niches from me my good name robs me of that 
which not enriches him and leaves me poor indeed," 
said Shakespeare, mindful of the fact that character 
is above all temporal wealth. The soul manifests in 
graduated individuality. It is the quintessence of 
Divinity and, accordingly as we are loyal to truth, 
we are spiritual inheritors. 

Spiritualism is effectual in the sense of conferring 
upon us a knowledge of worlds of sentiency and mani- 
festation other than the one we inhabit. It teaches 
the individual the futility of concentrating the entire 
consciousness upon the quantities and qualities of 
this plane of experience. It teaches him to distract 
consciousness from the desire of external possessions, 
and weighs the importance of developing menta- 
spiritual realities. Consciousness gains experiences 
on each plane in ratio as the relations of conscious- 
ness to outer phenomena cause development of under- 
standing. In every sense experience, there is left the 
result. Certain external stimuli conveyed through 
the optical nerves to the brain cause the mind to react 
and experience the idea of danger or joy, and so on. 
Thus, in the sum-total of sense experience on a plane, 
the essential fact is the increase of judgment and the 
increase of comprehension. The within is the real; 
the within the true; the within immortal. Sacrifice 



The Birthright of the Soul. 267 

the external, and the within grows greater and greater. 
The capacity to experience develops with control. 
This control is gained through the discrimination of 
desire and through the discrimination in the indulg- 
ence of desire. Denial and affirmation, restraint and 
freedom, control and enjoyment — in the friction be- 
tween these the divine fire of the soul is lighted. 
There is valuable teaching in the parable of the tal- 
ents. The burial of the money is symbolic of the 
burial of possibilities leading to the higher expres- 
sion of emotion, truth, and character. He who 
passes the precincts of life, idly wandering through 
its temple, leaves its outermost gates a fool. He 
leaves it empty-handed. His life is a vanity. He is 
less than when he passed the threshold of life, for he 
has allowed his possibilities to atrophy through dis- 
use. Free was he to choose. He could have perfected 
himself. He could have trodden the "sunlit heights." 
The woe is the degradation, the retrogression. That 
much-abused and much-misunderstood paragon of 
poets, Oscar Wilde, has written a very excellent and 
appropriate sonnet entitled, a Helas": 

"To drift with every passion till my soul 

Is a stringed lute on which all winds can p.ay, 
Is it for this that I have given away 

Mine ancient wisdom, and austere control? 

Surely there was a time I might have trod 
The sunlit heights, and from life's dissonance 

Struck one clear chord to reach the ears of God: 

Is that time dead? lo! with a little rod 
I did but touch the honey of romance — 
And must I lose a soul's inheritance?" 



268 The Birthright of the Soul. 

He who could have written this, he who could have 

written : 

"We shall be 
Part of the mighty universal whole, 

And through all aeons mix and mingle with the Kosmic 
Soul," 

was not alone a poet, but a seer, a man of rich deli- 
cacy and exquisiteness of soul. Alas ! sins do we all 
commit, but whom do we wish to recite them ? "Let 
him who is without sin cast the first stone," said the 
Master. Whosoever enriches the world with the 
charm of music or of poetry, whosoever, in any man- 
ner, renders service to human kind should be at least 
twice thought of, before being utterly and irrevo- 
cably condemned. The genius-soul of Wilde, through 
the wreck of his besmirched reputation, shines like 
a brilliant jewel in the dark, upon whose surface has 
been cast a ray of burning light. There are the 
daughters of Eve and the daughters of Lilith, the 
former conventional, the latter reactionary. But the 
daughters of Lilith have mercy. 

Out of the Infinitely Perfect Soul came the souls 
of all, potential with Infinity, potential with Divin- 
ity. The Perfect Soul is the soul of the souls of all. 
Unto Him is truth, unto Him peace, unto Him ever- 
lastingness of perfection and silent calm ! Unto Him 
may all hearts of the universe turn! Unto Him be 
perpetuity of adoration, praise and benediction! He 
the Perfect One is beyond myself, yet am I He. Let 
the wisdom of the mind become self-centered. Let 
it convert itself to the Essence of Wisdom. The Es- 
senians sought the vital Essence of things. May our 



The Birthright of the Soul. 269 

minds and hearts be occupied with that Essence ! 

Perfect One, Truth, Life and Love, unto Thee do 
we consecrate ourselves. May the personal fade into 
the Impersonal! Is such fading death? Nay, life 
endless is it; it is omnipotence and omniscience. It 
is the realization of Divinity. Adoration to the High- 
est Self, adoration to Him, the Self of selves, the 
True, the Real ! The inestimable privilege of birth- 
right is the possibility of becoming a more perfect 
conduit for the inflow of inexhaustible wisdom and 
love. The greatest knower is the greatest lover. Said 
a great Teacher to the Master: a My Lord, thou art 
Perfect Wisdom clothed with Perfect Love. Those 
who see Thee in the fulness of Thy glory, see not 
only Supreme Love but Omniscience." The Master 
made answer: "My child, son of truth and bliss, if 

1 am Perfect Wisdom clothed with Perfect Love, 
then thou art Perfect Love clothed with Perfect 
Wisdom." But the other disciples were conscious 
only of the Great Love of the Master and the Great 
Wisdom of the Teacher. The Two understood and 
regarded each other as one in essence, partakers of 
identical qualities and perfection. O Teacher of 
teachers, O Master Supreme, strengthen us in the 
divinity of our birthright! Render us conscious of 
opportunities for greater and greater unfoldment. 
Teach us the truths of the Path. Lead us to the 
feet of Self. "Reach us through and through our- 
selves and, evermore, O Supreme, protect us from 
ignorance by Thy sweet compassionate heart." 

There are those who say how can we make any 



270 The Birthright of the Soul. 

personal effort at emancipation from the fetters of 
ignorance, how make any attainment towards the 
goal of realization if the will is bound, if our rela- 
tions with nature are controlled by the so-called Law 
of the Inevitable ? First we have to prove the state- 
ment that we are bound. The true individual is not 
bound except in the sense that he binds himself and, 
even as he has bound himself, so may he likewise set 
himself free. True it is that from a certain point of 
view we are bound. We are bound by the Karma 
of the past, by the tremendous influence of past 
thoughts, deeds, words and omissions. Great, how- 
ever, as it is, this bondage can be cleaved. The 
sublime heights of the philosophy of the incom- 
parable Vedanta gives us glimpses of brightest 
promise. We have reason to hope. We have cause 
for courage divine, the courage which makes mountains 
of psychic influences vanish before the all-powerful 
will. Our prestige is omnipotence. We, the inheritors 
of divinity, need never falter. At our side, sustaining 
and protecting, is Immortal Spirit, Truth and Power. 
"Knowledge is power." The adage is true in more 
than one way. It is consistent with the idea of 
growth of perception. Acquainted with a greater 
number of facts we become controllers of the psychic 
and chemical forces these facts represent. Ideas, 
facts and forces are interblended. By gaining con- 
trol of one we gain control of the other. Gaining the 
meaning of a fact one gains the secret of its potency. 
That was the original signification of magic. Words 
are the expression of ideas. Ideas bear conscious re- 



The Birthright of the Soul. 271 

lation to realities. Realities convert to ideas, and 
so on. Thus do we find in the sacred literature of 
all peoples stories of the control of circumstances 
and forces through the chanting of certain words, 
bearing a vital relation to the facts involved, and to 
the states of consciousness to which those facts were 
equivalent. Magic has deepest realities. Magic, also, 
is in most wonderful accord with the truths and dis- 
coveries of modern science. First ridiculed as an- 
cient superstition, its place is now allotted in psycho- 
chemical sciences. Ideas are immediate in their reac- 
tion upon the physical influences that are conter- 
minous with them. The entire field of thought has 
changing and modifying power in the entire field 
of physical motion. The cause for our slavery to 
the changing facts in nature is the ignorance in not 
knowing how to direct thought in such a manner 
that its activity upon the physical area of expression 
will be superior to the influences of the physical area 
upon the mental. Once the tremendous energy of 
thought has been well-centered and definitely di- 
rected all physical forces and contra-vibrant in- 
fluences are shattered. 

The keynote to spiritual symphonies, the note 
that awakens the soul to higher levels of realization, 
fulfilling its promises and privileges of birthright, 
is faith. Reason lingers amid the folds of doubt and 
doubt is negative, weak. It throttles the power to do 
and to be. It discourages the soul from intrepidly 
following the path of the Way of Peace. Reason 
in the subjective realm is ponderous. When the soul 



272 The Birthright of the Soul. 

has reached the plane of inspiration, the activity of 
reason is unnecessary, for truth comes as the dawn 
of the spiritual day scattering the night of ignorance, 
of doubt, and of spiritual hesitationSc Reason moves 
by laborious processes. It traces the far-fetched idea 
and travels the circuitous path. It lingers and 
pauses, progresses and recedes, confirms and denies. 
Faith is the supreme virtue which has been infused 
into our soul by the Spirit within. Through faith 
we are omnipotent. Faith levels barriers, removes 
difficulties, reaches truth by positive apprehension 
through awakened consciousness. "Thy faith has 
made thee whole," is true, not alone in a sense relig- 
ious, but also in a sense eminently psychological. It 
affects the psychical element of human nature, infus- 
ing into it the knowledge of ability, the spirit of 
direction, force and enthusiasm. In turn, the psy- 
chical element, affecting the body, empowers it with 
new and hitherto unrealized physical power and con- 
trol. By faith our civilization has been made whole. 
By faith has this entire network of mental evolution 
been brought about, for faith enlivens the mental per- 
ception. It stimulates and vivifies the psychical in- 
sight which is so often confused with mere ratiocina- 
tion. It is the revealer of the unknown, affecting the 
mind in such a manner that the latter is directly 
related to the knowledge in process of unfold men t. 
The truth of development is the truth which faith 
materializes, the truth which it brings into existence 
through focalizing the concentrative faculties of man. 
Faith arouses expectancy and expectancy insures the 



The Birthright of the Soul. 273 



i s 



birth of the things, the qualities, the substances be- 
lieved in and hoped for. Faith is the torch-bearer in 
the procession which men have been making through 
the interminable shadows of the unknown ever since 
the dawn of the rational instinct. This faith is self- 
fortified. It is not a delusion. It is not a snare. 
It has its foundation in the imperishable basis of 
known truths and values. It does not labor in the 
mists of dogma or superstition. It is the co-partner 
of fact, of truth, of reality. As our emotions are 
ruled by the ideas which arouse them, so the mind 
is encouraged in its course by the inherent belief in 
the possibility of the soul's discovering the thing 
sought or yearned for. Faith is the sum-total of the 
birthright of the soul. All other qualities and dis- 
tinctions, all other privileges and opportunities to 
which the soul is heir, are synthetically related to 
faith. Faith is the finite reflection of the complete 
consciousness of omniscience and omnipotence. It is 
the superconscious apprehension by the soul of its 
activity, its absoluteness and perfection. That is 
why faith is subjective. No matter how much we 
attain, no matter how far we have trodden the Path, 
the forward steps are guided by the intuitions of 
faith, by the solace and the encouragement which 
faith inspires. Faith is the expression of the teach- 
ing of the Spirit within the soul of the soul; it is 
the tender whispering of the all-embracing love that 
guides the weary traveller through the course of re- 
peated births. There are few who can sit at the feet 
of the Masters. How then can we come into direct 



274 The Birthright of the Soul. 

touch with the truth, apart from the reading of 
books ? "He will certainly teach me, He within the 
heart." Directing our desires and our mental en- 
deavors, through the avenue of faith, to the Ideal we 
become devotees, the children of the Ideal and, even 
as the father provides for the material support of his 
children, the Ideal will provide for the spiritual 
growth of the soul. We shall be guided and guarded 
so long as we stand in sincere relationship to Self, 
so long as we possess the faith which trusts and 
the love which leads. He who perceives and knows 
is the childlike soul, the confident, believing and 
aspiring soul. May He Who has assumed all names 
and forms, He Who has arisen from the True 
and the Immortal, increase in us that faith divine 
which enlarges the soul to higher proportions of 
knowledge, character and spiritual unfoldment ! May 
the Perfect Ones, They Who have realized Truth, 
help us in our efforts! May They impart unto us 
Their faith transcendent and all-saving! 

The ocean is ever the ocean although its surface, 
moved by the winds of God, is multiple with waves. 
The waves have existence only through name and 
form. The word "wave" and its "form" are the 
constituent elements of the phenomena. The reality 
of the waves is the water of the ocean. The winds 
cease their riot, and the waves are no longer. They 
return into indistinguishableness. They are one 
with the ocean. The birthright of the soul tends 
to such an ultimate end. The disturbed surface of 
the ocean of infinite existence, infinite knowledge and 



The Birthright of the Soul. 275 



■o 



bliss gives life and form to the numberless myriads 
of finite lives. Through this disturbance arises the 
phenomenal universe. The lashing of the winds of 
ignorance and desire aggravates this variety of form 
and surface existence. But ever in the depths, uncon- 
taminated and self-centered in absolute peace, resides 
the Central Life. Whosoever remembers the depths 
beneath, whosoever awakens to the Voice of the Si- 
lence, whosoever dives deep beneath the surface ad- 
vances with might and main. Such a soul is un- 
shaken by the winds of finite existence. Like the 
mighty oak in the forest, such a soul is unbent and 
unbroken though the storm rages fiercest. The minds 
of the many are discordant. Therefore the surface is 
filled with loudness of sound. Thesefore the cries of 
ambition, of manifold desire, of birth and death, of 
pain and pleasure, of sorrow and joy, of knowledge 
and of ignorance, are heard. 

Birthright is only an opportunity. It is an in- 
heritance complex in possibilities. Having great 
faith and exercising great self-control we reach the 
fulfilment of the promises that birthright involves. 
The divine heritage rises from the appreciation of 
outer facts and circumstances. Its supreme glory 
comes when we know that the outer is but the conden- 
sation of the inner. Men are ignorant so long as 
they identify their birthright with the aggrandize- 
ment of what they possess. Wisdom and bliss find 
their abiding place in the soul, when its ambitions 
center in the desire "to become." Becoming is the 
process of evolution. Realizing more of the inner 



276 The Birthright of the Soul 



& j 



glory, appreciating to a greater and greater ex- 
tent the reality within our nature, that, indeed, is 
the happiness in life. Experience is the mother of 
growth. Even a retrogressive experience has value, 
if only to confirm the soul in the Noble Path by in- 
flicting the punishment of the Law. There is a 
wide latitude of distinction, however, in the idea of 
"becoming." This constant evolution is not everlast- 
ing. Spiral is the ascent, but the complete figure is 
a circle. From a given point the soul commenced its 
pilgrimage through finite existence. To that given 
point must it return, with this difference, that in 
completing the circle the original point must be 
passed. All this external growth is but the reflection 
of the growth of the soul in its more and more com- 
plete understanding of the nature of Self. The soul 
is, always has been, and ever will be free and unspot- 
ted. The veil of ignorance obscures the vision, but 
the soul is ever unraveling this illusion. Evolution 
is the path by which the soul realizes that it is neither 
this nor that, that it has no relation to the past only 
as the Karma of the past bears progressive attitudes 
to the present and future. This non-identification 
with nature or nature's law, is the central signifi- 
cance of the soul's birthright. Our birthright is the 
investiture of all the exceptional points in the past 
which have made for present unfoldment. Therefore 
the development of these faculties and powers with 
which our birthright has provided us is a shifting 
to higher points of possibility. The soul cannot 
"become"; it is already all in all, already the 



The Birthright of the Soul. 277 

quintessence of divinity. When we say we are con- 
stantly "becoming" we mean that we are constantly 
progressing in our conception of Self. We are what 
we think and declare ourselves to be. From identify- 
ing ourselves with lower forms and personalities we 
ascend towards higher and higher conceptions of 
the Divine within, until at last we discard the ex- 
ternal and proclaim the internal, thus realizing that 
immortal Self "through W T hom and by Whom all lives 
are." The heritage and birthright of the soul i3 
Eternal Existence, Knowledge and Bliss. 



THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE. 

Beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the modern Straits 
of Gibraltar, stretch the vast watery wastes of the At- 
lantic. To the ancients these wastes were unknown. 
They dreamed of what lay beyond and sometimes 
their dreams were laden with the fragrance and soft- 
ness of Paradise and sometimes with the terrors and 
dread of Hell. In spite of the current superstitions, 
however, there were many valiant navigators who 
dared sail beyond the Pillars into the Great Sea. 
Frequently they returned with tales of strange lands 
and strangest peoples. We of the twentieth century 
also have our Pillars of Hercules. They have at all 
times been extant and formidable, but, particularly 
in this day, their formidableness has been softened 
and many navigators are sailing Beyond. These 
Pillars, causing as much interest and representing far 
more than the Pillars of Hercules of antiquity, are 
the Pillars of Hercules of the mind. We have stum- 
bled on many truths of transcendent import, truths 
which are rather surmised than scientifically cognized. 
We are in the shadow of the vastness of Truth. From 
the downfall of imperial Rome and the oblivion of 
the Greek Philosophies and Mysteries the centuries 
have revealed little in the way of vital truth. We 



282 The Visible and the Invisible. 

have had thinkers, such as Thomas de Aquinas, Al- 
quin, Erigena and Abelard, dispensers of philosoph- 
ical truth. We have had alchemists, the forerunners 
of modern chemists, revealing many a truth, origin- 
ally of occult description, now serving in the depart- 
ments of medicine and chemistry. But the great were 
the few, and the masses, benighted in mind and soul, 
were given little truth and much superstition. There 
is the dawn of an ominous Renaissance, not literary 
or artistic, but a Renaissance of the racial soul. The 
great line of demarcation between the old and the 
new began when Columbus discovered America. This 
discovery of a new continent was the evolutionary 
impulse, defining radical reform and invention. 
There was a revival in every phase of human activity, 
from the aesthetic and the artistic to the mechanical. 

We have sailed beyond the Pillars of Hercules. We 
have come into intimate contact with the Unknown. 
Beyond the limitations of known quantities we have 
heard the whisperings of novel truth. We have heard 
the accents of pregnant facts. Great thinkers have 
concentrated, and these whisperings and accents have 
resolved themselves into the latest branches of 
science. It is never too late to learn. True is this 
of the individual, and as certain of the race as 
a whole. The cosmic urge expresses itself in the 
inherent impulse of the soul to reach beyond 
present knowledge. We have seen the risen and 
conversed with the dead. We have come to the bor- 
derland of another world. As America ever existed, 
though its discovery from an historic point is H 



The Visible and the Invisible. 283 

comparatively recent event, so a great psycho-spiritual 
world has ever existed at the threshold of conscious- 
ness, unobserved and unknown. Psychology measures 
thought and emotion. Scientists balance the weight 
of desire and are intimately acquainted with the reac- 
tions between the mental and physical. It is no longer 
the mental and the physical. They have coined a 
new word to designate the more complete conception 
of personality and of the human constitution, the 
w r ord "psychic." The word is used in connection with 
the existence and surface description of this new 
world. "Is it Spiritualism to which you refer V asks 
the reader. It is not. Spiritualism is only a new form 
of expressing facts as old as the First Death. "There 
is nothing new under the sun/ 7 said the ancients. 
Schiller tells us : "There is not a thought which has not 
been thought out long, long ago." Spiritualism has 
startled both the orthodoxy of ecclesiasticism and sci- 
entific dogmaticism. We cannot waive it aside with 
a negative shrug. If truth abides with it we might 
as well attempt to remove the Himalayas. 

Spiritualism and the world it suggests to conscious- 
ness, however, is not the spiritualism of table-mov- 
ings, rappings, dollar-down mediums and stupid the- 
ories. It is not the spiritualism that identifies itself 
with rarefied materialism. It is not the spiritualism 
that listens to haphazard prophecies and tell-tale 
stories of the departed. That is only a higher necro- 
mancy. Spiritualism does not mean running after 
dead friends and relatives. Accustomed to them 
in spirit, men would treat them just as shabbily as 



284 The Visible and the Invisible. 

they were wont during their earth-life. How strange 
that the greatest of miracles can become commonplace ! 
How strange that curiosity is so painfully confused 
with sincerity ! Men are bewitched by the new. The 
sun, the moon, the constellations are no miracles. We 
title the rapping on a table or a door something "pass- 
ing strange." Bottom-rock sense is needed. We need 
what the farmer told his university-graduated son: 
"What you need is common horse-sense." Let us get 
away from the tawdriness of curiosity. We should 
face truth in a becoming fashion. 

Religion and truth are not matters of temperament 
or curious inquiry. If there be truth in the heart of 
spiritualism it is our place to find it. Above all it 
is a moral duty so to adjust our lives to the newly 
found phrases of truth that our characters inter- 
pret in conscious reality what is held as truth. 
We can best be loyal to belief in its practice. This 
is the only serious fault to be found with spirit- 
ualism. Its adherents are not strictly religious. The 
creed is, relatively speaking, inferior to orthodox re- 
ligion. If men believe in the vital significance of 
spiritualism, let them once and for all so relate them- 
selves to its assertions that their outward conduct ex- 
presses their inner faith. The value of a cult is its 
attitude to spirituality. "Does it lead Godward? 
Does it conduce to Self-knowledge? Does it lead to 
control and the amelioration of conduct ?" 

There is an aspect of spiritualism, however, which 
is in keeping with the significance of Self-knowledge 
and spiritual control. Every soul of religious aspira- 



The Visible and the Invisible. 285 

tion appreciates the beauty of that spiritualism which 
develops the spiritual faculties and places the individ- 
ual in direct communication with higher intelligence 
and helpfulness. The facts in spiritualism are spir- 
itual facts by which the soul, coming into relation 
with deeper realities, is brought face to face with the 
imperative necessity of self-development and unfold- 
ment; face to face, also, with those whose experience 
on the psychic planes of life render them capable of 
assisting the soul. This is the truth of spiritualism. 
What, after all, are our departed friends to us ; what, 
after all, our relations % The spirit of all friendship 
and of all love is the spirit of development. No one 
is a relative or a friend who is consciously or uncon- 
sciously inimical to the growth of mind, heart or soul. 
Friends and relations are given to us because of cer- 
tain needs in our nature to which they respond. Mere 
sentiment dies quickly. It cannot brook misfortune. 
It is shattered at the first unevenness of disposition or 
circumstance, but true friendship and true love out- 
live the tides and turns of life. The individual, striv- 
ing for the Ideal, should consider the circumstances 
of finite life as birth and death, friends and foes, 
weal and woe as so many forms through which the 
soul is led into a superior conception of the Ideal. 
This gives a higher appreciation of our relatives and 
friends, a greater consolation in the hour of trial and 
a greater joy in the hour of good fortune. When one 
whom we love has passed from our conscious vision, 
there should be a deeper motive than curiosity 
arousing the effort to penetrate the veil and com- 



286 The Visible and the Invisible. 

mime with the departed. Real sorrow manifests 
when we realize that with the death of a friend 
a part of ourselves has departed. It manifests in the 
feeling that an inspiration and an incentive for un- 
foldment has been removed. We are members of the 
Ideal. We are in communion with the departed in 
devotion to the Ideal which they cherished and prac- 
ticed. There is no death when we remember the 
Ideal. The spiritual essence exists though the mortal 
may neither see nor hear. At times the soul, quickened 
beyond its normal sensitiveness, appreciates its im- 
mortality, communes with the beloved and realizes 
that ever is love deeper than death and that the Ideal 
which blends souls in mutual love is deeper than the 
grave. A true conception of immortality rests in the 
sameness of spiritual identity and unity where "All 
is One." Men lead a surface life and it is that life 
they wish immortalized. Such immortality would 
mean stagnation of soul. As the homely caterpillar 
dies to its present condition and arises in the form of 
the light-winged, beautiful butterfly, so we must die 
to our present conditions in order that we may be born 
anew with better opportunities and advantages. We 
must remain in the chrysalis state, the subjective state 
between death and renewed life so as properly to as- 
similate the past into tendencies for a more beautiful 
life to come. Appearance deceives. Dead the body 
lies, cold, bloodless and inert. We speak of the per- 
son as dead when we mean the body through which 
the person manifested. The soul is so closely identi- 
fied with the body that more reality is credited to the 



The Visible and the Invisible. 287 

body than to the ego within. Steadfastly gazing to- 
ward the external, the mind fails to realize the inter- 
nal. Men deal with shadows and forget the substance 
which gives life to shadows. They are dealing with 
forms and neglecting the life and the spirit of forms. 
Such is the inverted order of ignorance, such the su- 
perstition of illusion. The learned Swami Viveka- 
nanda said : "The root of evil is the illusion that we 
are bodies. This, if any, is the original sin." The 
density of soul to which men are liable is this 
body superstition. Their desires concern the advan- 
tages of the body. Little do they appreciate the supe- 
riority of the mental, psychical and spiritual princi- 
ples constituting their nature. The first step towards 
the goal of knowledge is to gain freedom from this 
superstition, for it stands in the way of all other reve- 
lation. So long as we are governed by this false atti- 
tude, so long is our creed a farce and our spiritual 
conception meaningless. Immortality is not to be 
desired for the perpetuity of personality. Change is 
the nature of personality ; fluctuation from lower to 
higher and from higher to lower points of understand- 
ing and conduct is the activity of personality. How 
can that be immortal which shifts and changes ? The 
soul is the individual and assumes all these chang- 
ing personalities to educate itself into understanding 
and realization of Spirit. Birth is only an experi- 
ence. Death is no more meaningful than birth. The 
personality is tributary to both. All have lived many 
times and many times all have died. The soul takes 
on many bodies, even as the body puts on various gar- 



288 The Visible and the Invisible. 

ments. Constant is the change. This ceaseless rush 
is mothered by desire. Quiet desire, and the surface 
of the ocean of soul becomes smooth. The Spirit is 
the Ideal. The relation of the soul to the Ideal deter- 
mines its relation to other beings. Those who cherish 
the same aspects of the Ideal are therein vitally con- 
nected. They are Karmic relations, and these rela- 
tions are deeper than the ties of blood. Never does 
one who is conscious of the ideal relations between 
himself and his friends doubt their at-onement with 
himself, though death may have swallowed up the 
visible form. It is hard to understand this from a 
practical viewpoint. The spiritual consciousness 
alone appreciates. The visible is our limitation. Be- 
yond the visible is the world of the invisible. There 
reside the departed. There the sustaining elements 
of this physical expression exist. Normal conscious- 
ness cognizes the invisible when it is related to higher 
aspects of truth. Then it becomes conscious of super- 
sensuous existence. The invisible is composed of 
rarer states of matter and finer motions of force. Ex- 
quisitive sensitiveness and sensibilities prevail. The 
invisible is the realm of ideas, of inspiration, of intu- 
ition, of imagination, the realm of the principle of 
things, the realm of "Eidolons." To exalt the belief 
in the invisible to the realm of conscious perception 
should be the individual aim, not for any reason, how- 
ever, other than to come into communication with 
higher ideals and their more lucid interpretation. The 
cry of the sages is the cry to get beyond this normal 
sense area. Men never believe unless they are ration- 



The Visible and the Invisible. 289 

ally convinced of the existence of the truths to which 
they give their faith. How can we ever know 
unless we consciously perceive and consciously know ! 
Therefore, we should follow those rules of mind and 
body prescribed for the perfeet unfoldment of con- 
sciousness from this to higher realms. These rules 
have much to do with the body. They imply the puri- 
fication of the body of "dark qualities."' These dark 
qualities are heaviness, coarseness, insensibility to 
fine vibrations and contamination. These rules im- 
ply the development of the respiratory and nerve 
systems. They imply full control of the body, for 
only in this way can the body become the veritable 
habitation of Spirit. Some of these rules demand 
much in the form of ascetic practices. The average 
practice is for those who do not wish to advance far. 
Ascetic practices are for those urged by a burning de- 
sire to get beyond the barriers of normal sense con- 
sciousness. Certain dietetic methods produce perfect 
balance of the physical motions in the body ^nd exqui- 
site sensitiveness to slightest vibrations. They pro- 
duce brilliancy of the mental faculties and liberate 
the psychic element. If one lives for any length of 
tim e solely on a cereal fliet ? his body will be in such 
rarefied a state and the sense organs so psyehiatrized 
that he can read the thoughts of others and hear dis- 
tant voices and so forth. But these are only provable 
in the practice. If they are merely regarded as 
statements they only count for so much. One ounce 
of practice is worth more than the reading of 
tomes upon the subject. This delicate adjustment of 



290 The Visible and the Invisible. 

the human body to snpersensnous vibrations is the 
primary end of psychic development. It is the first 
stage in the great work of the soul to liberate itself 
from the thraldom of matter. The invisible lies at 
the threshold of our normal consciousness. That we 
do not go beyond the normal border, that we do not 
lift the veil that obstructs the view of things psychic 
and of the psychic plane at large, is surely our 
fault. It is our fault because we do not wish to pro- 
gress further. With the majority there has been no 
thought of these things, but nowadays the flood of 
psychic truth has spread until it has encompassed the 
world. Many are placing or attempting to place them- 
selves in union with things beyond immediate sense 
grasp, but this is not the final goal of psychic control. 
As inferred in the chapters preceding, the final aim of 
nature is to make us realize the Divinity within the 
soul and to make us realize the unity of life and its 
sacredness in every form. We are upon a certain 
altitude in this universe and survey everything be- 
neath as inferior. We do not think of the superior. 
Therefore we exalt ourselves as primary in the uni- 
verse and regard mankind as the climax of natural 
evolution. But beyond and encircling the terrestrial 
sphere on every side are planes of consciousness and 
intelligence compared with which the earth is prim- 
itively developed. There are beings so incomparably 
exalted beyond human conception that, in the compari- 
son, men are as infinitesimal insects to exalted human 
beings. Why, then, do we fall prey to pride ! It is 
in the humbleness of heart that we are taught ; other 



The Visible and the Invisible. 291 

wise painful experience is our teacher. Becoming 
sensitive to planes of rarer atmosphere means putting 
ourselves into communication with the beings who 
inhabit them. 

In this communication is embodied the beauty and 
the essence of spiritualism. This is the higher-typed 
spiritualism which has the highest of ideals, the ideal 
of self-perfection and Self-knowledge as its motive for 
effort and inquiry. In this communication the soul is 
helped. Every effort at self-amelioration is answered 
in the form of assistance and strength from the invis- 
ible. We are never alone. This sentence is frequently 
heard in spiritualistic circles where honesty, science 
and reason are brought to bear. But the mind must 
grow apart from the phenomena. The physical phe- 
nomena of spiritualism are rudimentary forms of 
communication. They are for those who demand that 
form. Generally speaking, there are few instances 
when spirits of the higher planes manifest in this 
fashion. Those of the higher realms of life con- 
sider the highest form of communication the direct 
form in which the individual is directly sensitive 
to inspiration and intuition. This is far superior to 
the ordinary methods of communication. It is better 
for us to reach to the planes above than to have beings 
of superior planes reach down to us. In the latter 
case the manifestation is accomplished with great diffi- 
culty. Then, when we ourselves are awakened to 
direct communication, we are no longer in doubt. We 
know the value of the communication and discern its 
source. In physical communication it is difficult to 



292 The Visible and the Invisible. 

discern the source. So often do vibrations cross and 
so often do spirits of lower planes intercept and mis- 
represent. When the soul has attained to psychic 
sensitiveness it can personally discriminate. By com- 
ing into direct association we become identified in a 
personal sense with those who have long sought to 
establish in our souls the necessity of self-evolution 
to the point of direct communication. We become 
the children of these exalted beings and partakers of 
their bliss and spirituality. This is the vital meaning 
of spiritualism which gives it prestige, dignity and 
rational sanction. Nothing can rise as a barrier to the 
aspiration of the soul, once it is determined to rise 
beyond its present level. All the forces of the uni- 
verse are allied with it. All help necessary is freely 
given. Just as we are never tested beyond our strength 
so we are guarded and guided when we are not on 
trial. It is when things flow cheerfully that the great- 
est danger is imminent. In trouble we gladly seek 
assistance from the realms beyond. We remember 
our spiritual Self and take refuge in it, but when 
everything is peaceful and free we are liable to let 
go the reins, liable to forget the existence of those 
whom we say we love, those who are in union with the 
vibration of our cherished ideals. The invisible 
helpers are ever at the call of the soul and surround 
it with equal protection in the day of fortune and of 
misfortune. 

The fruitage of spiritualistic belief is its value in 
changing the viewpoint of mind and heart. Con- 
vinced of immortality, convinced that the body is a 



The Visible and the Invisible. 293 

myth and that this world is but an infinitesimal frac- 
tion of the entire universe, that planes succeed planes 
in endless circulation, the soul becomes conscious 
of the immensity of things. Yet the vastness and 
depth is as naught in comparison with the soul itself. 
The greatest masses of matter in time return to their 
gaseous beginnings. Everything perishes. Compared 
with eternity, the duration of the existence of greatest 
suns is but a flash. Where is immensity? In the 
soul which outlives all phenomenal immensity, which 
antedates the dawn of the universal day, which is one 
with Infinity. If the soul reflects upon its ever- 
lastingness, it feels that it is one with the Great 
Cause, one with the Alpha and the Omega of 
Being. The greatest question does not conern this 
universe, but the individual soul. Who are we who 
ask this question? Within the abyss of our souls is 
the answer. The universe and its cause is Self, the 
Self to be found everywhere, resident in all beings, 
the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe. 
It is the Self -projection of the Highest Self. He who 
has realized truth sees Self. For him this uni- 
verse has faded. Such is the teaching those from the 
other side give. But there are equally great teachers 
on this plane. We must receive truth from every 
source and remember that personality is only a me- 
dium for the dispensation of truth. Therefore, in 
communication with beings on higher planes we must 
adapt ourselves to the wisdom of the communication. 
In speaking of spiritual communication a teacher 
has said : "If you are introduced to a strange person 



294 The Visible and the Invisible. 

yon would not immediately ask him concerning his 
birth, his connections and his antecedents. People 
forget common courtesy in their relationship with the 
departed. If a spirit comes to them the first thing 
they say is : 'How long have you been dead ? What 
was your earth name ? On what sphere do you exist ? 
What do you do in your new expression V " All these 
questions have nothing to do with the spiritual wis- 
dom which those who come impart. We have the duty 
to listen and heed. Spiritual beings have as much 
courtesy and dignity as we would wish ourselves to 
have. They do not appear for silver collections, that 
is, the highest, and those who, in truth, assist and 
guide. The coming of the departed from their sep- 
arate realms is to them a sacred mission and their 
coming should be regarded as sacred. Our attitude 
must change in this respect if we wish to become fully 
benefited by the phenomena. We cannot get the best 
results with inverted attitudes. 

Nature does not reveal the new unless there is need. 
If the new is revealed it is for those who understand. 
Those who do not comprehend are without the experi- 
ence. The point of appreciation is for those whose 
individual growth has thus far developed. So in 
spiritualism those who understand come into direct 
communication, while those who do not are simply 
curious and puzzled by the phenomena. The sincere 
spiritualist is not a hunter after dead relatives. He 
is a searcher after truth, after instruction, and if his 
instruction is best attained through immediate contact 
with departed relatives, he becomes conscious of their 



The Visible and the Invisible. 295 

presence and their help. The messengers of truth are 
the messengers of Spirit. Their subjective life is en- 
grossed in the praise and the service of Spirit, and the 
worthiest spend their ecstasy in the very vision of 
Spirit. We only live on onr outer circumference. 
Evolution is in reality from within. From within 
the evolutionary urge has developed the ideas and the 
desires which have elevated the amphibian through 
varied forms to the human. From withiii comes 
that still higher evolution that makes us conscious 
of deeper truths, invisible and indiscernible to aver- 
age intelligence. Deeper and deeper are we impelled, 
until at length we become sensitive to the vibrations 
those receive upon highest planes. 

In speaking of planes we must not confine ourselves 
to the idea of locality. That is far from the defini- 
tion and conception of planes. Planes are in the 
mind. All is in the mind. The external is only the 
symbol of the mental. Therefore the Christian, con- 
vinced of the reality of hell and its everlastingness, 
and dying with the idea of mortal sin on the soul, 
enters the condition to which his mind has been 
wrought through belief. He is subjected to the exter- 
nalization of his belief. He comes into a plane of 
thought and feeling where he feels that he is eternally 
doomed, where he is tortured with dreadful visions, 
implanted during earth-life instructions. "When the 
force of this idea is spent, the soul passes into uncon- 
sciousness and rises to subjective planes where it 
w T orks out the heavenly belief for the reward of good 
works. Unconscious of its past, it is wheeled into 



296 The Visible and the Invisible. 

earth-life when the force of the heavenly idea is spent. 
It is all in the mind. It is all mental. We are the 
figment-makers of our destiny, not alone here but 
hereafter. Those from the other side endeavor to 
make clear to us that the death state and the state of 
life subjective is just what we believe it to be. If we be- 
lieve in the hell and heaven idea we become so related. 
Some may ask why then does not the state of hell 
endure forever since the idea implies this everlasting- 
ness ? Finite beings as we are we can have only finite 
conceptions of the infinite and of eternity. There- 
fore we are bound by the finiteness of conception and 
not by the infinity which our idea suggests. Thus it 
is that persons are liberated from their after-death 
states, when these states consist of the belief in 
heavens or hells of theology. It is the karma of the 
individual that he falls prey to these morbid concep- 
tions. It designates narrowness of soul, theological 
domination and control. 

The quest after the Infinite takes the soul beyond 
the realms of the finite. It raises it beyond stationed 
levels. It is the great impulse behind evolution. One 
aspect of this quest is the central principle of spirit- 
ualism, the desire to broaden the area of conscious 
perception. Outside conscious phases of experience 
lies the vast mist of the Beyond. Until recently this 
Beyond was a vagueness and a myth, but the onward 
impulse directs, and we are now commencing to per- 
ceive the lineaments of this vagueness. So much de- 
pends upon the reality of other worlds and other 
planes. Moral attitudes change. The conception of 



The Visible and the Invisible. 297 

the universe changes. The vision of life is broad- 
ened. Knowledge increases, for with the evolution of 
perception ever comes an intensification of the ra- 
tional faculties. But we shall never be perfectly sat- 
isfied with the mere perception of other planes. In 
fact, it might serve to increase selfishness. Increased 
knowledge and consequent power might influence the 
person to utilize them to further the wants of appe- 
tite. This is the "black magic" of which we so fre- 
quently read. "Black magic" may be perpetrated on 
this plane as well as on others. Every selfish act is 
"black magic." There is variation in the degree of 
this magic. Its methods are accentuated when con- 
sciously applied. It is good that men are ignorant of 
many things. There is some danger that they might 
employ them for the ruin of themselves and others. 
Right conduct and unselfishness are the guardians 
through which all harm is nullified and all danger set 
aside. That is why celebrated spiritual Masters have 
summarized their religious teaching with the words: 
"Love one another." In this sense personal vibra- 
tions can only tend to the harmony of the spiritual 
and occult elements of man's nature. Unselfishness 
renders the person harmless, and in this harmlessness 
it protects and is protected. Whatever we send forth 
returns with multiplied interest. 

Sustaining and impelling all occult inquiry should 
be the impulse to reach beyond limitations and to 
grow asunder from stagnation and monotony of soul- 
placedness. This is the inquiry sanctioned by the 
Spirit within, the inquiry which is spiritual in es- 



298 The Visible and the Invisible. 

sence and spiritual in manifestation. What is knowl- 
edge ? Ever is it limited. Ever is there the immedi- 
ately beyond. Ever is there the unknown. Psychic 
perception does not insure perfection of character. 
Acquainted with the orders of the psychic worlds 
men would act just as they do in this world; perhaps 
worse. Spirituality, devotion to the respective Ideal 
which one may entertain with regard to the Ultimate, 
purity of conduct and unselfishness spiritualize 
knowledge and elevate the individual to nobler 
heights of conduct and aspiration. Knowledge is of 
value as it relates itself to the refinement of the feel- 
ings and to the expansion of the heart. If the soul 
realizes the occult as contained within itself, it will 
not emphasize external methods of attaining it. If 
it realizes that the Spirit within comprises all life 
and all universes, it will be happy in its devotion 
to the Spirit. We must place our Ideal on the 
altar of our hearts and steadfastly worship it. If 
thereby we acquire knowledge of the occult, if thereby 
we are exalted to supersensuous planes, coming into 
the consciousness of psycho-spiritual realities, it is 
well. Through the activity of Spirit is all unfold- 
ment. Through the blessings of the Supreme all that 
we are we owe to the highest Self. Therefore what 
does it matter if we have or have not advanced to the 
point of personal perception of superconscious truth ? 
Let us know that as yet it is not intended, but by the 
grace of the Supreme, and in His sacred wisdom, the 
time will come when faith shall give place to knowl- 
edge, when we shall see where now we do not see and 



The Visible and the Invisible. 299 

hear where at present we do not hear. The Heart 
of the universe is open to the devotee. The Heart of 
the universe calls unto the devotee and, in the call and 
in the answer, the soul is awakened to transcendent 
truths and to sublime vision. The saints of various 
religious denominations were lifted in soul and in 
consciousness beyond the limitations of this earth 
plane. In this they were educated by the Beloved. 
Whosoever worships the Supreme, by the Supreme is 
led through the many mirages of this universe. All 
planes are manifested in his desire. All knowledge 
and all power is his who turneth his heart in one- 
pointed concentration to the Essence of all knowledge 
and power. Knowledge and power — what, indeed, 
are they ? Trifles of a larger description. They are 
toys, snares, that separate the soul from the vision 
of the Supreme and the realization of the Divine 
within. In One do we ultimately perceive all. In 
One do we find the boundless source of all loves 
ever cherished, of all ideals and of all the idealized. 
Then do we perceive that the external is only the 
symbol, that the inner is real, that the individual 
heart is the shrine upon which all these evanescent 
wishes, ideas and ideals have been founded. Tear 
asunder the veil of the heart, uproot the shadows of 
selfishness, however vague and slight. Then will the 
Eternal and the Imperishable be seen as All-Loving 
Tenderness, Compassion, All-encompassing Existence, 
Knowledge and Bliss. So long as we express the per- 
sonal as the Individual so long do we remain uncon- 
scious of the peace and the ecstasy of true spiritual 



300 The Visible and the Invisible. 

control and Self - knowledge, and so long are we 
merged in the ocean of ignorance. Selfish desire is 
only too often the motive for the attainment of things 
psychic, and desire is vain. It is not true, not real, 
not essential. It deviates, deceives and desecrates 
the mind, leading it into improper paths of ex- 
pression. Even the gods fall before the destruction 
of desire. Power is not spirituality, not blessedness. 
The greatest knowledge is not blessedness. All these 
are steps on the Path, but the goal is far, far beyond. 
The goal is the Infinite. Manifested pow T er and 
knowledge are relative, finite and bound. Knowl- 
edge and power come with the disturbance of 
spiritual equilibrium. We must not confuse outer 
knowledge with Divinity. Attainable knowledge is 
relative, but Infinite is the Essence of the attainable. 
What that Infinite is we cannot know. It is the 
Highest Self. "Thou art That." But to understand 
this expression we must first do away with this rela- 
tive, personal, shifting, changing self, composed of 
the qualities of mind and matter, born in time, hab- 
itant in space, subject to laws, bound, merged in the 
sea of the phenomenal. Even as the Self must be 
thought of as vitally different from what is generally 
considered as Self, so must we differentiate Infinite 
Knowledge from what we understand as knowledge. 
This higher spiritualism enshrined in the truly 
divine aspiration is the effort, not alone to pierce the 
mists which cloud the horizon from this plane to the 
psychic planes, but to pierce the mirage of the uni- 
verse and there behold Him, "One without a second." 



The Visible and the Invisible. 301 

The spiritualism which should be realized is the type 
that enters into the heart and concentrates upon 
the secret, not only of the world above, but of all 
worlds. All this peregrination of mental effort to dis- 
cern the immediately beyond is far less in effect than 
a single aspiration to the Supreme, far less than a 
note of praise, far less than a whisper of devotion. 
Surely these things are more glorious than a long 
routine of the revealing of facts. Upon the veriest 
pinnacle of soul emotion is directed to the Ideal. It 
cares not for return. It seeks no bargain. Engrossed 
with love for the Ideal, it witnesses only the Ideal. 
It does not stop with the discovery of a single plane. 
It recognizes the Ideal, the Highest Self in all planes 
from the coarsest to the finest, from the densest to the 
most spiritual. All beings are Its expression, all uni- 
verses Its manifestation. Wherever the ways of the 
Ideal lead the soul there is it ecstatic in peace trans- 
cending all understanding. Saint Francis di Assisi, 
Wesley, Saint Theresa of Jesus, Saint John the 
Apostle, Zoroaster, Al-Ghazali, the Buddha, Eama- 
krishna, Ram Prasad, all the lovers of the Supreme, 
at all times and under all conditions, have realized the 
highest truth in deepest, soul-inspiring love. The 
highest knowledge and the highest love lead to the 
same goal. They reach the threshold of eternity sep- 
arate in name and quality, but when they have passed 
the threshold they lose their characteristics and merge 
into the Infinite as the Absolute Essence of Exist- 
ence, Knowledge and Bliss Infinite. Spiritualism is 
embodied in the significance of Self-knowledge. The 



302 The Visible and the Invisible. 

first import of spiritualistic discoveries is the con- 
sciousness of immortality. Once aware that for us 
there is no death, that this entire outer arrangement 
is less by far than the soul, we grow unconquerably 
fearless. Terrors do not exist for us. Nothing can 
daunt our efforts at realization. Courageously we 
tread the Path. We smile at death. When it comes, 
we welcome it with open arms, for death is the kind 
liberator of the soul from mortal existence. Death 
restores us to the existence which is in keeping with 
freedom of expression. Death affords us as much as 
life. Just as we come into this plane endowed with 
sense and mental faculties, so on the plane of spirit 
we find ourselves endowed with sense and mental fac- 
ulties, with this difference, that in the latter instance 
the faculties are given greater area of expression. He 
who fears death would fear life more, if conscious of 
the limitations of the latter as compared with the 
former. Both death and life are opportunities. They 
are the dual expression of the one central truth, the 
evolution of Spirit. They both serve in soul develop- 
ment. They both educate and refine. He who is born 
must die, and he who dies must again be born, say 
the Upanishads. Mortal existences are like the days 
and deaths are like the nights. 

The Naked Sword of Pure Divinity assumes these 
sheaths of mind, body and soul. In the highest sense 
it is sheathless; it is ever drawn, only in our igno- 
rance we understand it as being enclosed within the 
principles constituting human nature. Its burnished 
light cleaves the bondage of body-superstition, de- 



The Visible and the Invisible. 303 

stroys ignorance of mind and burns passion to ashes. 
The Dragon is the lower self which, in self-assertion, 
accredits reality solely to its own, and denies the all- 
embracing reality of the Highest Self. With the 
Sword of Wisdom, the Shield of Faith and the 
Valor which comes with the knowledge of the 
Divine within, the aspiring soul destroys the "beast 
within," the lower self, impelled by the fever of 
desire and the frenzy of passion. The fight is 
bitter and long. Lives upon lives pulsate in the 
ebb and flow, during which now the higher self and 
then the lower self is in control. But the end is as- 
sured, because the omnipotence of Self must conquer. 
The lasting qualities of this bitter struggle are due 
to ourselves. We are the Dragon and also Self. In 
the shifting of a consciousness, now spiritual, now 
material, the balance is rarely even. When that even- 
ness is attained the lower self is destroyed and the 
true Self shines, pure and undefiled. The dissonance 
must cease. The spiritual symphony must be sounded 
that reaches the "ears of God." Then is the soul 
manifest on all planes. If the purified washes the de- 
parted to come, they will come at his bidding. He is 
at oneness of vibration with the entire universe. The 
gods are his servants. He finds himself in the vast- 
ness and sees Self as inherent in all. He knows this 
universe as Self. Thus the Self of all answers his 
wish. Through the omnipotence and omnipresence of 
Self all beings are consciously or unconsciously his 
well-wushers, serving him in the fulness of their na- 
ture. This is spiritualism, but it is the spiritualism 



304 The Visible and the Invisible. 

which reaches through and through this ocean of 
"combinations/' forming as it will and assuming 
whatever manifestation it chooses. 

"Whom the scriptures of the world praise, Whom all 
boings love and adore as the Ideal, Whom this universe 
serves and of Whom it is the evanescent reflection and 
manifested essence, He is Self, He is the truly Im- 
mortal, He is the Alpha and the Omega, He is resi- 
dent on all planes, larger than the largest, smaller than 
the smallest, all-interpenetrating, all-encompassing, the 
Soul of all souls, the breath of all creatures, the life, 
the form, the mind, the psychic character, the com- 
plexities of good and evil, light and darkness, knowl- 
edge and ignorance, peace and strife, curse and bless- 
ing, saint and sinner, all in all. Him do we praise 
and worship when we seek to discover the realms of 
the psychic. Him do we adore when we seek to know 
more concerning the things about us. Him do we 
seek when we strive after spirituality and realization, 
for He is the secret both of realization and effort. 
This is spiritualism. This is the highest worship and 
the highest truth. Than this is no greater glory, bliss, 
peace and freedom. Whom the gods worship as the 
Everlasting, the Ancient, Unborn and the Pure and 
Free, That is thy Self, the Ruler within, the Immor- 
tal. Seeking This is true spiritualism. Finding it, 
that, indeed, is true joy. In the folds of darkness we 
ignorantly wander, but Thy light is ever shining. In 
this have we Faith. Sometime Ave shall inhabit the 
Immortal Regions where naught is save Peace Abso- 
lute, Bliss Absolute, Infinite Knowledge, Love, Light 



The Visible and the Invisible. 305 

and Life. Otherwise striving were hopeless; our 
faith a despair, our search futile, our existence mean- 
ingless. This is the truth. This is the Immortal 
which raises us from this death of life and exalts us 
to the Inconceivable Self, Greater than the Great, 
Greater than the Person, the Essence of Soul. 

Boethius was a philosopher, and at the downfall of 
his fortunes he took refuge in philosophy, so he tells 
us in "On the Consolations of Philosophy." But 
philosophy is a poor substitute for that direct super- 
conscious perception which the evolution of Spirit 
awakens. Spiritually developed, we realize that both 
pleasure and pain are temporary, that what is to-day 
to-morrow passes, that all is evanescent save the in- 
comparable glory and beauty of Self, passing all 
understanding. The man who stands on the moun- 
tain has no idea of detail of scene. He does not dis- 
cern the unevenness of soil or the many topographical 
differences in the distance. It is all one view, and in 
the oneness of view separate differences are lost sight 
of. He who is in the valley sees the distinction in 
buildings, in trees, in landscape, and so forth. 
Blessed is he who stands on the high mountain of 
spiritual insight; to him is forever lost the dis- 
tinctions that desire and ignorance entail. He has 
lost consciousness of manifoldness. "He who in this 
world of manifoldness sees that One running through 
all. In this world of death he who finds that One 
Infinite Life. In this world of insentience and ig- 
norance he who finds that One Light and Knowledge, 
unto him comes eternal peace, unto none else, unto 



306 The Visible and the Invisible. 

none else." Glorious is the soul when it perceives 
Him, the goal of all perception, the goal of all discov- 
ery. For what are we so eagerly seeking, for what 
so patiently striving; why the round of existence, 
why all this phenomenalism, why all this endless 
query ? It is because the soul, like a piece of steel, is 
drawn to the Great Magnet. "Om, Hari, Om," sing 
the devotees of Love Supreme. Hari, such is the San- 
scrit name for "Him Who attracts all things unto 
Himself." Om, that mystic word which includes the 
personal conception of the Principle of evolution, 
preservation and destruction. Om, the mystic word 
which includes the impersonal conception of the 
Principle of the universe in the transcendent light of 
antedating the manifested universe by eternity and 
infinity. Om, the mystic word, of three letters, 
AUM, and the hiatus representing the "lost word." 
Each of these letters stand for a certain word. The 
hiatus stands for the Holy Name of the Supreme 
spoken only in the Inner Court of the Initiates. The 
hiatus stands for the Word of which the Apostle 
wrote: "In the beginning was the Word, and the 
Word was with God, and the Word was God." The 
soul lifted beyond itself, reached through and through 
itself, divested of ignorance, radiant in understand- 
ing, accomplished in the ways of truth, love and ecs- 
tasy, intuitively discovers the Word. All songs of 
praise, all poems of inspiration, all towering philos- 
ophy are an approach to the Word which is God. The 
Word was spoken and the worlds came into space. 
The Word was spoken and light was. In the Tmmen- 



The Visible and the Invisible. 307 

sities the Word was uttered and, lo, the Immensities 
revealed themselves in the Infinities of Space and 
Time. At Thy feet, O Spirit of the Word, we sit 
and wonder. We seek the saving knowledge. Give 
that to us. We seek to behold Thy face. We seek 
that our souls be consumed by the fire of Thy unutter- 
able love. Inflame our minds with Thy wisdom. De- 
stroy in us the sense of egoism that we may closer 
approach Thee, the central truth, the sustaining prin- 
ciple ; Thee, the celebrated in all the dogmas of relig- 
ion ; Thee, the essence of Trinities. Enfold us within 
the wings of Thy Divine Motherhood. Who is man 
that he can depend on anything save Thy wonderful 
tenderness! Thou alone understanclest. Touch our 
soul with the fire of Thy Divinity, so that the lower 
may perish and the Higher be exalted beyond speech 
and thought. In Thee do we seek refuge. Thou art the 
refuge of the weak and the oppressed, the consolation 
of the afflicted, the comfort of the down-trodden, the 
Spirit of hope, of salvation, of inextinguishable com- 
passion and inexpressible love. Drown our ignorance 
in the ocean of Thy omniscience. Destroy with the 
fire of love our feverish desire to manifest un- 
truth. We are Self. Thou, O Pure One, do we per- 
sonalize. Thus do we see Thee. The mind is depend- 
ent on symbols. The Within, "Thou art That." Thou 
art the soul. Thou art the mind. Thou art ourselves. 
We, we are Thee. O Spiritual Essence, O Burnished 
Light of Truth, here do we see Thee present and 
there. On the ocean of space infinite dost Thou rest. 
Where is the place Thou art not ? Wherever we turn 



308 The Visible and the Invisible. 

it is Thy face we behold. Where we stand there 
Thou art. Thou art the speech and the thought of 
the speech. Thou art the speaker and the listener. 
Thou art all in all. Remembering this, how can we 
remember this personal self ! Recalling this to mind, 
where is there room for separate existence, existence 
apart from Thee! Of ourselves we are nothing. 
Through Thee, indeed, we are omnipotent. When 
will Thy Infinite Compassion reveal itself unto us, 
so that we may see Thee ? In seeing Thee do we see 
this entire universe, and what is not this universe. 
Thy face encompasses nature. Thou art the true 
and the real, the essentially beautiful, the incompar- 
able, the unthinkable, the ecstasy of the devotee, his 
prayer and his love, his soul, mind and body. 

Faith is the factor by which the soul is translated 
beyond existing limitations. Faith exalts power of 
will, enlarging its possibilities of activity. Faith can 
move mountains. Faith draws the imaginative from 
its realm into the sphere of practicality and useful- 
ness. It renders the subjective palpable to objective 
consciousness. The things of thought, being unrelated 
to planes of physical manifestation, can be grasped 
only as consciousness expands to the superior. Faith 
develops the necessary expansion. It is subjective 
perception. Later this perception makes way for di- 
rect knowledge. Belief is the avenue for the experi- 
ence of consciousness. Possibilities are in ratio to the 
belief in possibilities. Communication with beings 
resident on the psychic planes becomes established 
through a strong faith. Hesitation and doubt are the 



The Visible and the Invisible. 309 

opponents of success. The mind need not question 
communication so long as the results are in strict 
accordance with reason, which must be satisfied, else 
any madman could consider his experience as real 
and fundamentally related to the facts of rational 
truth. Investigation carried on in a scientific and 
truth-loving spirit results in the manifestation of the 
phenomena. To direct perception, antagonistic argu- 
ment is foolish. Those who see, hear and feel cannot 
be persuaded that they do not see, hear and feel. If 
conscious experience is questioned what, indeed, is 
real ? If there were but a small number who claimed 
acquaintance with the psychic world, the truth of their 
experience might be questioned. But from time im- 
memorial innumerable experiences similar in charac- 
ter to those we to-day observe have been going on. 
Ancestor worship, Shintoism and many esoteric ele- 
ments in orthodox religions serve as illustration. The 
religions of Greece and Eome were filled with the 
central idea of spiritualism. They believed that the 
departed were aware of their fortune and circum- 
stance. They reverenced them and used their names 
in swearing the truth or calling upon assistance from 
the invisible in the hour of need or danger. Shinto- 
ism is a direct form of religio-spiritualistic worship. 
Many prayers in the Roman Catholic Church are 
directed to the Saints in Heaven. Evidently the pos- 
sibility of communication is recognized, for the 
Saints must hear the prayers, be affected by the rev- 
erence and devotion directed to them by their suppli- 
cants. In turn, they are supposed to reach out to 



mo The Visible and the Invisible. 

the latter in sympathy and assistance, thus bringing 
about a psychic communication in which faith, how- 
ever, is the dominant factor. Spiritualism interprets 
this communication in a same sense, only it says that 
direct perception is the direct path, while faith has 
only a minor value. With regard to those beings of 
eminent spirituality, dwelling far beyond the vibra- 
tions of earth, devotion and reverence are inspired by 
a faith based upon a knowledge of the possibility. 
We have communicated with beings on lower planes, 
are conscious of their existence, have observed facts 
in the connection. We know that the soul is immortal 
and that the souls of the spiritual sages, once incarnate 
on earth-life recognize the high spiritual vibrations 
emanating from us. The more the soul accentuates 
the spiritual portion of its nature, the closer does it 
come to high spiritual planes. It develops the latent 
spiritual sense, until at length it sees with open eyes. 
Through the practice of spirituality many geniuses 
of the Roman Catholic Church so developed them- 
selves that they consciously saw the Christ. By prac- 
ticing the truths which the Christ delivered his fol- 
lowers grow in oneness of Spirit with Him. Their 
bodies, minds and souls become so highly sensitized 
that finally they see Him, but such development is 
rare. 

Those on the same planes are aware and can com- 
mune with each other. By deep concentration and 
earnest desire they can come into contact with the im- 
mediately superior planes. The contact may at first 
be slight, but continued practice increases develop- 



The Visible and the Invisible. 311 

ment and perception. What we desire comes to us 
unless desires are inverted or based upon false ideas. 
Earnestly desiring to develop the soul by bringing it 
into communion with Higher Beings, we choose that 
which, to all purposes, is for our unfoldment. With 
concentrated, enthusiastic desire the veils are rent 
and we stand in the presence of the Masters. The 
real end of spiritual communion is development. 
That is the reason why we are afforded this blessing. 
Those who come to us from the invisible always bear 
at least one message — the everlastingness of the spir- 
itual as contrasted with the temporal, and the truly 
substantial compared with the ephemeral phenomena 
of mortal life. All purposes serve in the moulding 
and casting of character. All experiences, whether 
psychic or normal, have their root in broadening the 
conception of life and truth. We can serve the Ideal 
as well on this plane as on another. When we have 
learned the value and control of the internal, we be- 
come lords and rulers of the external, for the external 
is the internal manifested. Gross matter is the outer 
crust. Mind-stuff is the inner crust. Mind and mat- 
ter form combinations. The control of these combina- 
tions is the business which psychic control imposes. 
In turn, psychic control is brought about through the 
consciousness of what essentially constitutes Self. 
Self is isolated. It is unidentified with these mind- 
matter combinations. "As particles of matter com- 
bine in space, so mind-waves combine in time." 
Apart from these is the Self, the true Self, unhamp- 
ered by either physical or mental vibrations. To gain 



312 The Visible and the Invisible. 

consciousness of this Self, we must pass numberless 
experiences in this wilderness of doubt and hesita- 
tion. The physical finally paves and points the way 
to the super-physical, the psychic. Perception of the 
psychic planes gives a true, personal, conscious knowl- 
edge of the absolute freedom of the soul from the 
bondage of matter and mind. In this manner we lose 
the idea that we are either mind or body, that we are 
bound either by space or time, or the law which gov- 
erns the dispensations of time or space. The will 
may be bound, this human will that has woven its 
own fate, but behind the will is something which is 
indescribable, inconceivable, something which we call 
the soul. This is ever free. The more spiritual we 
become, the more we realize this truth, the more we 
identify ourselves with That which is beyond the 
categories of this universe, beyond name and form, 
beyond all duality, manifoldness and ignorance. Rel- 
ative knowledge is spun by the warp and woof of time 
and space. Knowledge everlasting antedates all 
things of finite origin. It is equal to the soul, consti- 
tuting its essence. 

Whatever is best within our nature, that must come 
forth. Whatever the spiritual element of our nature, 
that must be manifested. In this birth and mani- 
festation the entire meaning of existence is implied, 
also the entire meaning of this effort at discovering 
the Beyond, not only in philosophy but also in con- 
sciousness. The goal of all relation is extension of 
the spiritual. For this reason we have relations, 
friends, benefactors, yes, and enemies. For this rea- 



The Visible and the Invisible. 313 

son have the veils which separate the psychic from the 
physical been rent in twain. Isolation, unity, free- 
dom, realization are the end of all psychic effort, 
of all psychic control, of all psychic conscious- 
ness. True yearning is the means by which this 
rich quest of spiritual communication, develop- 
ment and realization is gained. Putting our souls 
into the quest we achieve. To come into touch 
with the Masters should be the aim in spiritual 
communication. In proximity to them the edun- 
cation of the soul into higher forms of spiritual 
knowledge and progress is quickened. A man battling 
against the waves which threaten to drown him is sin- 
cere in his effort. Intense sincerity will bring us, 
not alone to the goal of highest spiritual communica- 
tion, but to the goal of Infinite existence, to the feet 
of the Highest Self, Paramatman. 

The gods reside on the Olympian planes of Being 
and Thought. From this exalted position They view 
subordinate planes. The faintest sigh for aid arouses 
Their compassion and love. They send Their assist- 
ance. Conscious are They of us. Before we are con- 
scious of Them we must ascend the Olympian mount 
of Spirit. In this ascent They lend us helping hands. 
But They and all of us who reach the summit of spir- 
itual endeavor still behold the Ineffably Infinite 
above. Spiritual communication leads us into the 
love of those who are spiritual; it leads to spiritual 
heights, but the goal is the merging into the Infinite. 
That, too, is accomplished by desire, by Infinite De- 
sire, the Desire for Infinite Existence, Infinite Truth, 



314 The Visible and the Invisible. 

the Desire for Nirvana, the Abode of Perfect Peace, 
but that Desire comes when all other desires have died 
out. Spiritual communication must be confined to no 
particular plane. Even here we are in spiritual com- 
munication with our fellow-men and with the inhab- 
itants of all worlds, if our hearts have been set aflame 
with the Divine Fire, and if our characters have been 
moulded in the Cast. Unselfishness is selflessness, 
and selflessness lead to the Supreme Self in which 
all life communes. 



EEALIZATIOK 



CHAPTER XII. 



REALIZATION. 



In the solitude of his nature is he who has seen the 
Truth, who has become one with the Truth, in whom 
the Truth dwells, whom the Truth serves. He is the 
Perfect One who has passed the path of many lives 
and now enters the abode of blessedness, wisdom and 
infinite peace. ISTo longer is he the person; in him 
desire has been crushed. Absolute Existence, knowl- 
edge and Bliss compose the Godhood of his nature. 
In the immensities of the Self he has found the 
source of all knowledge and power. He is the Saint. 
In him character has reached its absoluteness of per- 
fection. He is the Enlightened One. Knowledge 
with him is no longer a quality; it is the essence of 
his divinity. He is the Law, for the workings of his 
Spirit are one with the Law. Having seen Self as 
all in all, in his omnipresent embracingness, he has 
spiritualized his nature into the nature of the uni- 
verse, considering all beings, animate and inanimate, 
as constituted of the same essential divinity. This 
universe is the form of Spirit. Beyond this universe 
form is not, nor space, nor time, nor thought. The 
Absolute, the Unconditioned rests in immeasurable 
calm ; in unthinkable peace. This the Saint has real- 
ized. All the truths of religion, all the principles of 



318 Eealization. 

philosophy, all emotional duties, all finite experiences 
exist no longer for him. For all these things serve in 
the attainment of realization. They are steps Godward, 
but when the soul becomes conscious that the object 
and end of this entire evolution is to perceive the 
divine, it is no longer bound by them. The borrowed 
light of personality has been extinguished. In its 
place shines the Spiritual Sun, heralding the Abso- 
lute, the Infinite, the Eternal, Omnipresent God. 

Thus have the sages taught: "Think you that the 
Impersonal is the negation of the personal ? It is the 
fulfilment and reality of the personal." The thought- 
lessness of the stone is not the thoughtlessness of 
deity ; neither is the impersonal nature of divinity the 
impersonal nature of the inanimate. Both thought 
and personality are compounds. The nature of divin- 
ity is simple. It is oneness. Complexity and duality 
have hold only in the realm of the finite. Referring 
to the unity and divinity of all souls apart from their 
Karma bondage, a Buddhist Canon, the Avatamsaka 
Sutra, says : "Child of Buddha, there is not even one 
living being that has not the wisdom of the Tatha- 
gata. It is only because of their vain thoughts and 
affections that all beings are not conscious of this, 
... I will teach them the Holy Way ; . . I will 
make them forsake their foolish thoughts, and cause 
them to see that the vast and deep intelligence which 
dwells within them is not different from the wis- 
dom of the very Buddha.'' Diving deeper than the 
veriest depths of this ocean of existence, we find 
the precious pearl of truth. The sky is infinite. 



Realization. 319 

The nature of divinity is like the sky, infinite in 
extension, potentiality and essence. Trying to ex- 
pand our nature beyond the surface of this shore- 
less ocean of flniteness we acquire the wings of 
spiritual understanding and are endowed with the 
quality of tireless effort to reach into the supercon- 
scious. Perfection of superconscious perception is 
the doorway to the Infinite. What that Infinite is, 
Self alone knows. But all of us are being urged on- 
ward, and will continue to be urged onward, until we 
are brought face to face with the Reality within. 
This reality is not thought, nor body. Thought and 
form are both non-persistent, and persistence is the 
first necessity of Reality. Therefore we are urged to 
get beyond all that is relative, non-persistent, unreal. 
The unreality of things as conceived in the Oriental 
philosophies must be properly interpreted, else it will 
lead into the absurdities of the metaphysical societies 
that deny reality to everything except their respective 
tenets of belief. The synthesis of realization, of 
reality and of the Law is embodied in Lafcadio 
Hearn's inimitable essay, Xirvana: a For all beings 
there is but one law, — immutable and divine ; the law 
by which the lowest must rise to the place of the high- 
est, — the law by which the worst must become the 
best, — the law by which the vilest must become a 
Buddha. " This is the emotional and religio-ethical 
side. The philosophical and transfiguredly realistic 
side is well expressed in Herbert Spencer's writings : 
"Every feeling and thought being but transitory, — 
nay, the objects amid which life is passed, though less 



320 Realization. 

transitory, being severally in the course of losing their 
individualities, whether quickly or slowly, — we learn 
that the one thing permanent is the Unknowable Real- 
ity hidden under all these changing shapes/' Our 
conception of the external world is physical. If we 
think very clearly we shall discover, however, that not 
alone is the external physical but also, as Schopen- 
hauer reminds us, metaphysical. We may reduce all 
sensations to the sensation of touch. We may explain 
the development of the sense organs from the skin. 
We may even speak of the brain as having as its first 
beginning merely "an infolding of the epidermis 
layer," but no one can explain "what feels the touch." 
This "what feels the touch" is the immaterial spirit- 
ual unit which we confuse by the name of soul. It 
is something which is distinct from the soul inasmuch 
as it constitutes the principle of individuality in the 
changes of personality. Personality is constituted of 
sensations and thoughts forming the psychic aggre- 
gate we understand as Mr. or Mrs. so and so. But 
the central link that individualizes this aggregate is 
the spiritual unit which, when rendered self-con- 
scious, ultimately manifests in realization. Person- 
ality does not perish with the body. The psychic ag- 
gregate does not materially change at the experience 
of bodily dissolution. For a time it is enlivened in 
the astral world, but when purely subjective existence 
commences, this psychic aggregate changes as the ac- 
tions of the past life develop into tendencies for the 
immediately future life. Just as each thought we 
think has its changing influence expanding or con* 



Eealization. 321 

trading consciousness, just as continued thought 
along given lines will radically change the personal- 
ity into the musical and philosophical or artistic 
genius, so the sum-total of life's doings will mould 
the cast of the future incarnation according to the 
survival of the fittest psychic units constituting past 
personality. These psychic units are not lost. They 
are transformed. In the transformation the old tend- 
encies which were cultivated and the new tendencies 
developed through deeds in life coalesce for the evo- 
lution of a more complete personality. Thus is fur- 
thered the development of man. This is the secret of 
reincarnation. 

The potential in the universe resembles the poten- 
tial in man. A child develops the musical instinct, 
but it develops it by reason of the tendencies of the 
soul toward such development. So is the universe. 
The manifested is but a drop in the infinite ocean of 
potential existence. From the potential the existent 
manifests. Involution is as vital a fact as evolu- 
tion. Without the one the other is meaningless. 
Satisfied that such is the course of nature and such 
the course of personal evolution we feel the joy in 
the duty of self-perfection. Evolution reveals possi- 
bilities to us. Each year brings changes; each year 
brings a larger view. Evolution makes us know our- 
selves. It makes us realize the endless source of self- 
perfection dormant within the abyss of individuality. 
Each new life affords increased opportunities for 
mental and ethical advancement. The thought of 
each new life is like a to-morrow that we always hope 



322 Bealization. 

will be brighter and more beautiful. The bright- 
ness and the beauty depend upon the psychic charac- 
ter of present development. These conditions of lives 
and death are stages. The dead are not dead. Past 
lives still vibrate in the psychic, super-physical force 
of thoughts and feelings. Behind the veil which sep- 
arates normal from superconscious life are buried, in 
ratio of depth to depth, undreamable numbers of past 
lives. Educated sensibilities have evolved from 
simple sensations, having physical equations as their 
primal cause. The refinement of character is an 
effort toward that wonderful perfection that the 
Christ, the Buddha and other divine sages have im- 
personated. The refinement consists not so much in 
anything outward or in any set of qualities or ideas. 
It is the attenuation and spiritualization of condi- 
tional and qualified consciousness. Pure conscious- 
ness is without name and form. This identification 
of consciousness with the temporalities of mind and 
form is phantom. Reason persuades us that the truly 
real is changeless, for in the shifting from this to that, 
with the integration of new and the disintegration of 
old qualities nothing stable is discerned. As this 
integration and disintegration weave personality, the 
truly real constituent of our nature is not personality. 
It is deeper than personality. The truly real is the 
permanent canvas sheet upon which personality, vivi- 
fied by the light of individuality, shifts and changes. 
Pure consciousness and reality may be compared with 
the eternal principle of light. Individuality may be 
regarded as white, which is colorless, though com- 



Realization. 323 

posed of numerous colors of personality. The white 
light is intimately associated with the eternal princi- 
ple of light, and of the white light of individuality 
personalities are radiating colors. All progress to- 
ward this pure consciousness is marked by greater 
and greater fineness of the substances composing hu- 
man nature. The spiritually advanced are sensible to 
the finer vibrations in the universe. It is their nature 
to be negative to evil. As it is the nature of the lotus 
to raise its leaves and blossoms above the corruption 
in which it is planted, so the spiritual being rises 
above worldliness and ignorance because such is his 
nature. This is the meaning of non-resistance to 
evil. It implies unconsciousness of evil. He who 
has realized the spiritual identity of his nature with 
the nature of all sentient and insentient beings bears 
no ill-will, because it is only the divine side of nature 
which is real to him. Ignorance, manifoldness and 
death are to him non-existent. He has realized the 
One Knowledge, Life and Unity which interpenetrate 
all. Profound and inexhaustible is life. It is not 
something uncertain; it is not a playground for idle 
passions. Life is serious. Not that it is a tragedy. 
It is composed of balances. Now the scale rises high 
in spiritual emotion or unselfish performance of duty, 
in artistic endeavor or humanitarian efforts, in joy 
and bliss; then it falls into gloom and darkness, 
apathy and selfish pursuit, misfortune and pain. 

In the highest sense, who is born and who dies? 
What is this procession of principles and phenomena ? 
What is the aim and the purpose of the cosmos ? Rel- 



324 Kealization. 

a lively regarded, the end is revealed in the progress 
of constant evolution. Once, however, the mind is 
philosophically and spiritually convinced that Self 
alone is, that the reality of this universe is only a 
borrowed reality, it sees the emptiness of the turning 
of the wheel of life and death and death and life. 
Self is eternal. How, then, has It become subject to 
time ? If it is formless, how is it that It has become 
subject to numberless forms and the accidents which 
happen to form ? How, if It is the embodiment of all 
knowledge, can ignorance exist? The answer must 
come from each individual soul. Truths beyond 
mental perception exist. When the soul has entered 
higher phases of consciousness, possibly a richer 
conception of the primary cause of this universal 
delusion, of ignorance, relativity and endless recur- 
rence of life and death may develop. Until then 
we must abide by the philosophical spirit which 
recognizes the impossibility of a definite philo- 
sophical solution to the causal problem. As the 
subject of this inquiry is necessarily beyond the 
universe, its solution must come from some ele- 
ment of individual nature also beyond the categories 
and the accidents of the universe. If there is some- 
thing existentially and eternally real within the pro- 
found depths of individuality, it must be one with 
the synthetic causal reality of the cosmos. Only the 
persistently real within the nature of man can appre- 
ciate the underlying source of evolution. First, Self 
must be understood. First, we must realize the unify- 
ing Self Which identifies one with all, Which knows 



Realization. 325 

no distinctions, is conscious of no manifoldness and 
rests in endless divinity from eternity to eternity. 
Eternal within eternity, such is Self. This Self is 
regarded as the Invisible, Unimpressible, Incompre- 
hensible, Indefinable, Unthinkable, Unknowable 
Being, only Conscious of Self in Self, i.e., the Abso- 
lute and the Unconditioned, with no trace of the rela- 
tive or the conditioned world about Him, All-Calm, 
All-Bliss, One and One Only. Were Self conscious 
of this universe, It would be limited. The Absolute 
is ever the Absolute. It is the Absolute in the rela- 
tive. Beyond limited existence is the Infinitely Ex- 
istent One. Beyond relative knowledge is the Omnis- 
cient One. Beyond this strife, struggle and darkness 
is the Infinitely Blissful One, the Splendor of Spir- 
itual Intelligence and Illumination. In all acts of 
justice, kindness, mercy, and in all virtuous manifest- 
ation Self, the Supreme, is present. The realization 
of Self has little to do with book learning or knowl- 
edge derived through reason or experimentation. 
When realization comes the flood-gates of omniscience 
open. Then comes inspiration, teaching by the Self 
within, by the Immortal and Omniscient Who shows 
the Way to Peace by teaching the truth of Self. 
The greatest teachers of mankind have been illiterate 
in the eyes of the world, but their words had power 
and their message was presented in a convincing man- 
ner. They did not reason or follow the exacting rules 
of logic, yet their teaching extended to all nations and 
ages. Reason is a poor arbiter of truth compared 
with that indescribable something resident in spirit- 



326 Realization. 

ual personalities which makes those who hear them 
know that their sayings are true. That is the force 
of spirituality. It can give life to a dead body. It 
can resurrect the divinity within the innermost na- 
ture. It can exalt from the lowest to the highest. It 
can cause the sinner to forsake his way. It is the 
joy of the saint, the inspiration of the disciple, the 
radiant essence of the Master. It is the powerful 
stimulus in the success of the Teacher. Wherever 
there is sincere religion, this spirituality is in de- 
velopment. Wherever emotional sestheticism prevails 
there can it be found. Spirituality is as real as any 
of the physical forces. It is the force that impels 
the soul toward Realization ; the force that banishes 
the darkness of the spiritual night and causes Truth 
to take its abode within the heart. This spirituality 
develops when the emotions become refined, when the 
coarse elements of the physical and their mental re- 
flections have been brought under control, when the 
soul perceives by the light of intuition and inspiration, 
and when it is consciously related to the idea of uni- 
versal Brotherhood. It develops with the spirit of self- 
sacrifice, self-abnegation, self-denial, self-control, and 
with greater effort and desire to realize the best with- 
in. It causes the Ideal to be loved for its own sake, 
not for the sake of any personal qualities. The Ideal 
does not exist in the dominion of the imaginative. It 
is inestimably more real than the phenomena that 
the senses perceive. On its own plane it is percept- 
ible and knowable. When the soul raises itself to 
that plane it sees with open vision, coming face to face 



Eealization. 327 

with the Spirit of the Ideal manifest in inspiration 
and in the spiritual urge. The depth of the heart can 
never be truly aroused until it has been consecrated 
by the essence of purity. Purity is the absence of 
coarseness, dullness, ignorance, primitive desire and 
its gratification. It is the refinement of sensibilities 
directed toward the Ideal. It is the spiritualization 
of the mind and heart. It is the centralization of the 
soul upon the beauty within the fathomless depths of 
Spirit. "Nothing defiled can enter heaven," say the 
Scriptures. And nothing defiled must exist in the 
individual desirous of perceiving the truth and seeing 
the Master. We must become as children, ignorant 
of worldliness and of the desires and emotions that 
lead to worldliness. Consciousness must be solely 
absorbed with the spiritual realities of life. Our 
natures must be simple. We must be positive against 
all ambitions that mirror the lust of the lower self. 
We must become receptive to spiritual intuitions and 
experiences that instruct the soul that it is the child 
of the Spirit. 

Realization implies the full meaning of the word. 
There is no half way. It is either the spiritual or the 
material. It is impossible to serve both God and 
Mammon. It is impossible to give absorbing atten- 
tion both to the things of the world and to the things 
of the soul. Filled with worldly ambitions, how can 
the mind adequately turn to Self ? There is not suffi- 
cient appreciation of the truth of Spirit to cause any 
great effort toward the Divine. We cannot claim to 
be spiritual and at the same time be occupied with 



328 Realization. 

the transitory and ephemeral. Our life is a whole, 
and the whole must be directed, as a whole, toward the 
perfect development of truth. When we earnestly 
desire anything, the avenue is made clear and we 
attain the desired end. Grounded into the very es- 
sence of the soul is the power to realize whatever it 
is concentrated upon, except when the mind has in- 
verted ideas of the thing desired, deeming it good 
and useful when it is evil and pain-producing. If the 
soul is overcome with enthusiasm to get beyond its 
present limitations, nothing can serve as an obstacle. 
The mightiest conditions are overcome. Circum- 
stances, events, conditions are so shifted as to serve 
the aspiring soul. The soul is possessed of the great- 
est uplifting force and it must win. Perfect freedom 
is the reward of the sincere effort at Self-realization. 
This freedom comes either through non-attachment, 
or through the pounding to pieces of barriers. Sor- 
rows come only as we attach value to the circum- 
stances that cause sorrow. Remove the attachment 
and the sorrow passes. If there is great attachment 
to certain places or conditions we will miss them. If 
we see the Ideal ever present, we will recognize It in 
the seemingly unpleasant. It is only as we recognize 
the surface phases of life that we are molested by 
them. Once we have seen the true and the real under- 
lying all surface expression we have gotten beyond 
the point where it can hurt us. ISTon-attachment does 
not mean that emotion must be killed. It means the 
fulness of emotion, the ability to render emotion spir- 
itually expressive. Attachment focalized upon one 



^Realization. 329 

condition or set of experiences is apt to make the 
soul provincial. What the soul needs for its perfect 
development is change of environment, mind and 
emotion. It must pass through endless variety of 
experiences to arrive at a more developed view of life. 
Sympathies must grow ; they must get beyond provin- 
cial conditions and extend to greater areas and to a 
more general inclusiveness. That is the meaning of 
non-attachment. The anchorite does not go apart 
from the world because he despises it. It is because 
he loves Self more. Leaving the world because of a 
less worthy reason is not spiritual. One must be able 
to stand all conditions and behold the Ideal even in 
the repulsive. He must be able to see the Ideal in 
the enemy, in the bestial and crude, for there It re- 
sides, though deeply obscured by the coarseness of 
ignorance and worldliness. A brave man faces con- 
ditions. He grows in understanding and the prac- 
tice of understanding as he is confronted by the 
tempestuousness of life. It is the whirlwind of 
misfortune which scatters stagnation. In the re- 
peated and swift changes that befall the person, in- 
tuition is developed. The sense of self-confidence is 
unfolded. Self-respect and ambitions are quickened. 
No man has become great and realized the best within 
without having first of all overwhelmed conditions 
apparently about to overwhelm him. It is at the 
darkest that the day begins its course. It is when 
all holds seem lost and the light is nowhere to be 
seen, when help is far and the path seems tedious that 
the psychic atmosphere clears, and the soul again be- 



330 Kealization. 

holds the spiritual guidance which ever surrounds it, 
ever enfolding it with care and protection. The 
soul is always provided for. The forces of evil and 
ignorance may abound, but the forces of the Spirit 
are omnipotent. Never should fear enter our hearts. 
Never should we be distressed. The Lord in the 
Bhagavad Gita, one of the celebrated epics of India, 
reminds us never to be disheartened. He says: "In 
order to make yourself free, no depression should be 
allowed." In the end, whom is there tc- fear when we 
realize the great facts of the Invisible, the fact that, 
so long as we conduct ourselves within the vibrations 
of the Law and the Faith, nothing but the best can 
com? to us? The Omnipresence of Spirit, the All- 
embracing Self is our protector. All that we need do 
is to withdraw our consciousness from the turbulence 
of circumstances and center it upon the Ideal, en- 
throned within the innermost sanctuary of the soul. 
Resident is He, the Truth, Life and Light, resident 
in the heart. When we speak to Him, He hears ; He 
knows our innermost thoughts and the conditions 
which form our thoughts. Our souls are open to Him 
for He is Self. "He can hear the footfall of an ant," 
said the Master. When danger surrounds us, when 
we think that the battle against the lower self is too 
difficult and that we are being worsted in our efforts 
to reach the goal, we need only call, and the Master 
knows. "Not unto ourselves, O Lord, not unto our- 
selves, but unto Thy name give glory," sang the 
Psalmist of old. Who can fear, if in the hour of dis- 
tress the Master is seen ? The Master disguises Him- 



Eealization. 331 

self in many forms. Sometimes He comes in the way 
of the terrible to teach a lesson. Let us meet all with 
open arms, knowing that He is only disguising Him- 
self. If we recognize Him, He will throw aside His 
guise and smile. His grace will be manifest in the 
experience we gain from sorrow, in the broadening of 
the soul, in the enlarging of views, in the knowledge 
of oneness of all faith, all experience, all truth and 
life. We are being moulded into the image of the 
Divine. We are clay in the hands of the Law, im- 
pelled onward through this condition and that, im- 
pelled through pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, 
sickness and death, birth, infancy, childhood, youth, 
adolescence and old age. Again and again does the 
Wheel of the Law raise and lower the tide of individ- 
uality, only, however, that the soul may grow into 
larger proportions and that it may see the Essential 
in all experience. What, after all, remains as the 
result of experience? Development of character. 
Body passes, and so does mind, but Spirit remains. 
Character is immortal. That survives death. It con- 
tinues changing and rechanging itself in accordance 
with personal development. This process removes the 
alloy of worldliness and the desire for finite manifest- 
ation. It sets aside the impurities of ignorance and 
there is left the precious consciousness of the True 
and the Real. If we could penetrate the mists which 
hover about the soul and discriminate as to what is 
true and real, the change in the development of per- 
sonality would be inestimable. Instead of chasing 
the phantoms of sense and desire we would make 



332 Realization. 

every possible effort to educate the soul into the 
higher knowledge that is identifiable with spiritual 
consciousness. The mind knows a fact when it has been 
forcibly presented in conscious experience. All other 
knowledge is founded on theory, and theories change 
with the growth of mind and experience. Therefore, 
if spiritual orders of life exist, they must be con- 
sciously perceived. So as to bring the importance of 
this knowledge and its mode of perception close to 
mind, the ancient Aryan sages taught: "That Self is 
to be seen, heard, perceived and known. There is no 
other way." That is, the knowledge of spiritual 
things must be first-handed. In the end, faith will 
never do. Faith only leads to the threshold of knowl- 
edge. It has not that forcefulness of incentive pos- 
sessed by knowledge. The word of others, however 
eminent, is not sufficient. If faith does not lead to 
the exaltation of consciousness and the birth of in- 
spiration, it is of no avail. It has not the vivifying 
spiritual spark. It is helpless to render that nec- 
essary spiritual stimulus without which no achieve- 
ment along spiritual lines can be had. It takes much 
to make men abandon earthly ambitions and strictly 
confine themselves to the things of the soul. It is 
difficult to entertain spiritual emotions. Once those 
emotions have been aroused, the highest knowledge 
awaits us. 

The significance of renunciation lies in the giving 
up of things temporal, in the dissociation of the soul 
from desires which pull it downward into material 
expression; it lies in that divine self-abnegation 



Eealization. 333 

which, in the end, brings knowledge of Self. The /"} 
Christ spoke : a Take np your cross and follow me." . / 
This bearing the cross, however, is only a burden in 7 

the eyes of the worldly-minded and of those whose 
ambitions lead into diametrically opposite directions. 
It would be an extremely great burden for the rich 
man to abandon his luxuries and to follow the steps 
of the Teacher. His soul has not as yet developed 
to the perception that wealth is so much trash com- 
pared with the precious treasure of the Law. "What 
would it profit a man if he gained the whole • 
world and lost his immortal soul?" Thus did the 
Christ question his disciples. If a man possessed in- 
definite material resource, if he conquered the entire 
world and was the absolute master of all he desired 
and if, withal, he was limited in soul, what would be 
the real gain ? As Yajnavalkya retired into the forest 
in accordance with the custom followed by his ances- 
tors, his wife Maitreyi asked : "My lord, if I should 
gain this whole world would I become immortal by 
it V 9 "No," replied Yajnavalkya. "Thy life would 
be as the life of rich people. But there is no hope 
of immortality by wealth." 

"Know Thyself" was written over the gates of the 
Temple of the oracle at Delphi. This mandate has 
been thundered through the ages. All religions have 
taken it as their motto in one form or another. Phi- 
losophies attempt to realize the meaning of the man- 
date. But knowing one's Self is realizing the essen- 
tially eternal and perfect reality within the soul, is 
realizing that Self, larger than the largest, smaller 



334 Realization. 

than the inconceivably smallest, that Self, the core 
of Being. Stupendous is this task of educating the 
soul into Self-knowledge. Lives upon lives are 
needed. Myriads upon myriads of efforts must be 
made. Life and death are the weavers. Those who 
have passed into comprehensive understanding are 
lovers of Death. God is personalized as much in 
Death as in Life. Lovers of Death are those who de- 
stroy the lower self. Priests are they of Shiva, the 
destroying principle of nature. Devotees are they of 
the goddess Kali, Who laughs at death. Shiva, the 
Third Person of the Brahmanic Trinity, is the Eter- 
nal Yogi meditating upon the phantomness and the 
evanescence of relative existence ; He is Self-absorbed 
in the Highest Truth of which this universe is the 
inverted reflection. Such must the individual become 
before the Law blesses him in the perpetual knowl- 
edge of Self, the knowledge w T hich is immovable and 
unchangeable. In all religions this idealistic ascetic- 
ism is emphasized. It is the spirit of all ethics. The 
unquestionable proof of spirituality is its simplicity. 
Spirituality does not necessarily linger in ritualism 
or dogma. That is only the outward presentation of 
inner truth. Spirituality is expressed in character. 
That seems prosaic, since esotericism of mind and 
soul is generally regarded as enshrouded in the silence 
of Mysteries. "The highest truth is always the sim- 
plest," said a great Teacher. If we believe in unity 
of existence we must live according to the theory. 
This "living accordingly" embraces the ideal and 
practice of those virtues which manifest unity. Vir- 



Realization. 335 

tr.es have highest standing in the evolutionary scale. 
Their practice tends toward the refinement of the 
feelings. It tends to perfect subjugation of lower in- 
stinctive desires and to the development of highest 
qualities. Tossed hither and thither by the waves 
of desire on this ocean of finite existence, how can we 
ever realize spiritual unity unless we make the mind 
self-centered and controlled ! Then it will not be 
seized captive at every turning of the tide. It will 
have greatest strength, the strength of resistance. By 
patience everything can be gained. The most power-; 
ful influences may be easily controlled so long as the 
inner is governed. All external influences which at- 
tempt to undermine spiritual self-possession cannot 
affect the soul once it establishes discriminating wis- 
dom in the relation between the inner man and his 
outer surroundings. Truth and power are relative 
to the practice of virtue and to strength of character. 
Character will lift the soul into the superior percep- 
tion where it will reap the fruitage of the long, up- 
ward toil, when it will behold truth, not with the eye 
of the mind, but through direct consciousness. No 
Self-knowledge or psychic control can be had until 
character is firm. It is unbecoming to believe great 
truths and then neglect to fulfill them. Such a con- 
dition cannot be called faith. If one is acquainted 
with the mysteries of soul and lives the life of lower 
planes, he will lose the truth. Finally, he will grow 
altogether distant from his spiritual knowledge, going 
from bad to worse. That is the fate destined for those 
who betray the Spirit of truth. "Better that they 



336 Realization. 

never were born," than to become Judases to their 
spiritual knowledge. For every man is a Judas who 
believes one thing and acts another. 

The sweetest reward of the pursuit of spiritual 
things is the peaceful consciousness of their reality. 
Sensitized to the spiritual orders, the aspirant more 
and more consciously relates himself to them. Knowl- 
edge must develop into feeling. That is the goal of 
natural evolution. Whosoever has developed the con- 
sciousness of oneness of life knows nothing of strife, 
nor of ambitions which cause harm or misery to 
others. His soul is moved to assisting others. He is 
a constructor of ideals. He is wary never to destroy 
them, for their destruction often means the death of 
the soul that cherished them. He is an archangel of 
mercy. He willingly bears the burden of many and, 
if the burden crushes him, dies calmly. He is imbued 
with the idea of service. Philosophy means little to 
him in the comparison with the natural flow of the 
heart toward the noble and the true. The greatest 
personages whom history cites wielded tremendous 
power through their perfect love for others and 
through the perfection of their character. Such ex- 
alted beings were Jesus the Christ, Buddha, Confu- 
cius, Socrates. Such were Saint Bernard and Saint 
Francis, founders of monastic orders. They had the 
power to distract the worldliness of millions who have 
followed in their way, the power to call them into 
higher realms of effort and expression. They proved 
to them the littleness of the lesser things of life by 
making them conscious of the immeasurable greatness 



Realization. 337 

of Spirit. Name and fame are trifles. Most of those 
who accomplish great things are praised only after 
they have passed away. Those who live in the same 
age are themselves in the perspective and therefore 
cannot impartially discriminate. The most evanes- 
cent facts in the universe are those that concern 
temporal life. The tide of fortune is never equal. 
To-day men are transported by the realization of some 
petty desire. To-morrow the very pettiness of the 
desire is brought to their minds and they loathe what 
only a short time since they dearly wished and prayed 
for. The soul is already too much entangled within 
this net of worldliness to entangle itself any further. 
The bonds of desire that fetter its higher expression 
must be broken before the darkness with which it is 
encumbered can be pierced by spiritual light. 

Spirituality is a consciousness which is permanent. 
It is a reaching out which is abiding. It is a tireless 
aspiration endowed with the realization of the ever- 
presence of the Ideal. No spasmodic effort consti- 
tutes spirituality. True desire for spiritual develop- 
ment, Self-knowledge and spiritual control is realized 
through persistence and intensity. If we earnestly 
wish for something,, we leave no effort lost that 
serves in its realization. Thus should it be if men 
wish to acquire spiritual knowledge and moral control 
over their nature. 

Belief is relative. Knowledge is relative. This 
universe is relative. Infinite is realization. Infinite 
is Self. Infinite is the knowledge of Self, the 
knowledge that is identifiable with omniscience. This 



338 Realization. 

wheel of birth and death is immeasurable and un- 
thinkable. Opportunity seems limited, and the results 
of effort seem only short steps on that endless path on 
which the soul travels. Men cannot escape the neces- 
sity of duty. They may flatter themselves that all is 
well, so long as life is fair, but in moments of sorrow, 
or when some loved one passes beyond, it is then that 
the reality of temporal life seems mythical in com- 
parison with the everlastingness of truth and soul. 
Spiritual values come closer only as material values 
lose their hold. That is why men of high spiritual 
aspiration voluntarily assume poverty, knowing that 
true devotion to the Ideal can alone come when the 
attention of the mind has been diverted from the pal- 
triness of worldly calling. The truth seems distantly 
related to consciousness. It seems that we cannot 
bring ourselves to correspond with its actual reality. 
Death swallows all but character, but, in spite of this 
knowledge, men give their undivided attention to the 
things of sense. This lack of practical truth within 
their lives must give way. If they cannot of personal 
volition grow apart from the vanities of life, they will 
be compelled to do so. Pleasure resolves itself into 
pain. From excesses of animal appetites that reac- 
tion develops which causes bitter repentance. We are 
aimlessly drifting on an endless sea of change. All 
is in a state of flux. All growth is through pain. It 
is the separation of the lower and the integration of 
the higher. We may expect suffering and sorrow to 
afflict us so long as we call the phenomenal real. Noth- 
ing can harm us when we know that the real happi- 



Realization. 339 

ness for which all beings are yearning is not to be 
found within either the dominion of mind or form, 
that it is the essence of the Atman, the spirit of the 
soul, the quintessence of Divinity. We constantly 
seek happiness in the pursuit of things transient. 
When we understand that the reality of the phenom- 
enal is the Ideal, the Spirit, then nothing is common- 
place. Pain and pleasure, in their relative considera- 
tion, no longer exist. The soul experiences bliss at 
all times, for it is devoted to the Reality, the Omni- 
present Spirit resident in all things. This is the' 
central truth in religion. This is the ideal that 
affords dignity to resignation. We are resigned to 
the temporal arrangement and model our lives in uni- 
son with loftiest spiritual conceptions. Perceiving 
the unity of all life and soul, we cannot act as if we 
perceived manifoldness. "Whosoever realizes that 
Omnipresent Existence Whose image the individual 
soul is, unto him comes eternal peace and perpetual 
bliss, unto none else, unto none else." The eyes of the 
sage opened to the vision of the Master beholds none 
but Him, is concerned with none but Him, seeks and 
finds his bliss in none but Him. He realizes that all 
the attractions that previously led him to wander in 
the pursuit of the ephemeral are nothingnesses, that 
the secret of all attraction is Spirit, the very soul of 
the Beautiful. The sage cares not for the great power 
which his spiritual evolution brings him. His highest 
desire and ecstasy is in beholding That Presence vis- 
ualized in the form and expression of the universe. 
He is satisfied to abide in the Bliss of Everlasting 



340 Realization. 

Peace. He has become one with the Heart of Life 
and Truth. He has arrived at the ultimate reality, 
knowledge of Self. He understands that all the births 
of the past and all its experiences and all its ideals 
were but parts of the endless effort to reach the Divine 
within. Lifted from his sonl are the veils of illusion, 
of separateness and ignorance. He knows the "why" 
of things which puzzles all who are bound to the 
Wheel, for he is one with the Foundation of the uni- 
verse, one with Him Whose Infinite Presence radiates 
the Infinite Shadow we see about us in myriad ex- 
pressions. He has realized the essential truth, what 
Self is, has been and ever shall be, — Spirit, Endless, 
Deathless and Changeless. 

In this world of darkness and perishableness stands 
the Infinite One. If we identify ourselves with igno- 
rance and change, how can we ever hope to behold the 
Reality behind these fleeting shadows of transitional 
life ! If there is Reality we must be the essence of 
that Reality. That is the teaching. Blinded by 
densest darkness how can we hope to see the light un- 
less we forsake the ways of desire, and from the 
depths of the soul call out unto Him Who is the Soul 
of our souls ! He is the Reality of what we call our 
existence. It is He Who will show us the Way. His 
light shall guide us amid the gloom. He shall give 
us the divine perception of infinite unity. By His 
grace alone shall we receive the highest knowledge. 
The soul must feel aspiration. Aspiration must tingle 
in every drop of blood. It must be the vitalizing ele- 
ment of the mind. We must be mad with the desire 



Realization. 341 

to realize. We must be obsessed with the sole idea 
to discover the Truth of Self. The highest knowledge 
rises from the heart overcome with anguish. The 
struggle seems vain without that Light. Hopeless this 
endless recurrence, unless we seek and find Him Who 
is the Beginning and the End. Thy Light shall save 
us, otherwise we are lost in this ocean of change. De- 
votedness to the Ideal will draw us nearer the goal. 
And when we reach that goal, for us there is neither 
birth nor death, nor friend nor foe, nor bondage, nor 
ignorance, for then exists That One Absolute Exist- 
ence, Knowledge and Bliss which is Immortal, An- 
cient, Everlasting, beyond Being and [Non-Being, 
beyond Light and Darkness, beyond both Good and s 

Evil. That Adorable Self is All in All. Adoration 
to the Highest Self, Paramatman. 



FINIS. 



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As a Man Thinketh 
Out from the Heart 
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The Discovery 
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CONTENTS 

The Discovery of the Soul 

Trinity of Life 

Life in its Fulness 

Man's Magnet of Power — Optimism 

The Dawn of Man's Infancy 

What is Truth ? 

Growth Through Knowledge from the 

Psychic World 
Man — A Soul in Evolution 
God 
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The Triumph of Truth 

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1 ' The eighteen chapters of this work discuss 
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TheMasteryofMind 

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for ordinary folk in which is the substance of a 
large subject."— Leader, Boston. 

"A practical presentation of the entire field of 
psychology and thoroughly up to date." — Call, 
San Francisco. 

J*> j> J> 

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All the Doctrines of Christian Theology are traced 
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the light of Modern Thought, 

11 'The Triumph of Truth' is an interesting 
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came through, and as showing how many ques- 
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his mind to renounce authority, and, while re- 
maining true to the impulses of religion, to follow 
the light of reason. The religion to which he 
shows the way is worship on the principles of 
Walt Whitman of a God who embraces in him- 
self all differences and all opposites, and whom 
man discovers as he discovers himself." — The 
Athenaeum, London, Eng. 

1 ' The criticism in this work is fertile and ex- 
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and patient labor. It gives a great variety of 
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book that expresses a very earnest phase of in- 
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many subjects in a captivating manner and with many a 
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. . . . It is written with literary finesse that will appeal 
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tracts her as when, striving and struggling against big 
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He turns his affection upon a brilliant, vivacious, 
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with William Blake, an American artist, for whose painting 
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"The Kingdom of Love" 

By HENRY FRANK 



From the Leading Popular Economic Monthly. 

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think, the broadest and most comprehensive study of the master dynamic 
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view of the greatest thing in the world."— The Arena, B. O. Flower, 
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From the Leading Baptist Weekly of the West. 

" The purpose of this book is to show that Love is a cosmic prin- 
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creates, constructs and supports life everywhere. It is variegated in 
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From the Leading Unitarian Weekly of the West. 

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Love and God are the same all-pervading, beautifying, cosmic principle, 
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the healing grace ; and next, that contemplation of life's ideals, along 
these lines, presents practical encouragement to the pessimistic and 
needy toward social progress and individual development; and suggests 
to the more fortunate the cultivation of deeper sympathy. In short, it 
holds that God and Man when merged in the exercise of Love's beatific 
powers are one, that earth's crowning glory is the attainment of high 
ideals and unselfish ends, and thai the ' Resurrection * is but to rise from 
the delusion of the senses and the death-dream to the light of the spirit 
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